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{
    "id": 723062,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/723062/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 164,
    "type": "speech",
    "speaker_name": "Hon. Ichung’wah",
    "speaker_title": "",
    "speaker": {
        "id": 1835,
        "legal_name": "Anthony Kimani Ichung'Wah",
        "slug": "anthony-kimani-ichungwah"
    },
    "content": "You are today comfortable to open an account with Equity Bank, Co-operative Bank and all the other banks that fall under the regulation of the Central Bank of Kenya (CBK) because one is confident that there is the Deposits Protection Fund, and the Kenya Depositors Insurance Corporation. We seek to bring that regulation into the SACCO movement to make sure that people can save and deposit their funds within SACCOs under some form of regulation. That should be clear to the Members of this House so that we do not fall into the temptation of moving amendments to Clause 27 (a) and (b), as Hon. Maanzo may have fallen victim. Unfortunately, he is a Member of the Committee. He was Secretary in the Ministry of Co- operative Development and Marketing when I was Secretary for Sports during the Grand Coalition Government. Hon. Maanzo understands this better than I do. I was taken aback to hear him talk about amendments. I want to challenge him to bring those amendments. We will fight to uphold what is in this Bill, which seeks to protect gullible Kenyans against unscrupulous people, like the Mukurino I have referred to. I sat with Hon. Maanzo in Mombasa, with stakeholders. An issue about the Mukurino SACCOs came up. In regulating the SACCO movement, there are issues that came up with the interest- capping Bill, which talk about the financial institutions and not just banks. We enacted a law to cap the interest rates of financial institutions, and not just banks. When we bring the deposit- taking SACCOS under the ambit of a regulator, we will be able to classify them as financial institutions as they advance credit to people. Kenyans are suffering in some SACCOs. Every Tom, Dick and Harry can today register a limited company or a trading name, add the name ‘SACCO’, collect money from people and pretending to be lending to them. That is shylocking. Actual advancement of credit should be done in a regulated manner. Therefore, it is important that all the SACCOs fall under the ambit of a regulator. I want to talk about the qualifications of directors. We had engagements with the stakeholders who pointed out various issues. There were elderly men from an organisation called “Kiambu Unity Finance Company Limited”, which operates under the ambit of SACCOs. They take deposits and give services just like banks. We want to regulate those organisations. During our engagements with them, we identified very knowledgeable and skilled managers who are managing the SACCOs out of experience. We will not limit the qualifications to just academics. We will also appreciate and recognise other qualifications or experience in the management and running of SACCO affairs before one is allowed to act as a director or hold any other position of influence or management within a SACCO movement. We appreciate certain financial management skills. We may not allow anybody to manage the finances of a deposit-taking SACCO if one does not have the requisite financial management skills. That is the essence of the amendments proposed to this Act – to protect funds of members of the public. There are issues to do with integrity of people who will hold office in such deposit-taking SACCOs. They are clearly enumerated in the Bill. This country has not enjoyed sustainably lower interest rates because of lack of credit sharing information. I can today walk to my Mhasibu SACCO Society and take a loan of over Kshs5 million. Mhasibu is one of the most liquid SACCOs in this country. We can access up to Kshs20 million without any struggle. I do not know about Bunge SACCO Society because I have not been able to join it, but I have seen Members move around with loan application forms, looking for guarantors. I want to ask them to join the best managed SACCO Society in this country – Mhasibu SACCO Society that belongs to accountants. Because of our financial management skills, Mhasibu is run and operated by accountants who have ensured it is very liquid. The electronic version of the Official Hansard Report is for information purposesonly. A certified version of this Report can be obtained from the Hansard Editor."
}