Entry Instance

HTTP 200 OK
Allow: GET, PUT, PATCH, DELETE, HEAD, OPTIONS
Content-Type: application/json
Vary: Accept

{
    "id": 904032,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/904032/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 85,
    "type": "speech",
    "speaker_name": "Sen. Halake",
    "speaker_title": "",
    "speaker": {
        "id": 13184,
        "legal_name": "Abshiro Soka Halake",
        "slug": "abshiro-soka-halake"
    },
    "content": "Thank you, Mr. Speaker, Sir. I rise pursuant to Standing Order No. 48(1) to seek a Statement from the Standing Committee on Tourism, Trade and Industrialization, regarding fraudulent savings and credit cooperative (SACCO) societies‟ activities in Kenya. Mr. Speaker, Sir, around 14 million Kenyans are members of more than 22,000 registered SACCOs in the country. The SACCO sector is critical to the economy, as it employs approximately half a million Kenyans both directly and indirectly. The sector has a cumulative savings and credit of approximately Kshs700 billion which is over 25 per cent of all our national savings and an asset base of approximately Kshs1 trillion. Despite the presence of Sacco Society Regulatory Authority (SASRA), the sector is still facing fraud, corruption and mismanagement that have resulted in misappropriation and loss of billions of shillings belonging to Kenyans from various SACCOs, essentially, impoverishing visiting Kenyans and wiping out any possibility of us creating wealth through SACCOs. In the Statement, therefore, I would like the Committee to address the following- (1) Provide information on all the cases of mismanagement and blacklisted SACCOs. How or what is the effective way the public is being notified of these SACCOs? Mr. Speaker, Sir, there are quite a number of SACCOs that are blacklisted but the population does not know of. (2) What is the plan of Government to regulate and protect all deposit taking entities and protect the savers or members of SACCOs who are impoverished? (3) Find a pragmatic framework or policy currently in place to ensure good governance, financial health and management of risks to protect savers of SACCOs and deposit taking entities. (4) Confirm that there are comprehensive laws and regulations to manage SACCOs but only honoured in breach than in practice. If so, what is the plan so that these regulations are applied by the relevant authorities to protect members‟ savings? (5) Is the Committee aware that the Sacco Societies Regulatory Act provides a Deposit Protection Fund, yet this part of the law is yet to take effect despite being in existence for the last 10 years? (6) Can the Committee provide reasons and, hopefully, answers why the law protecting deposit funds has not come into effect?"
}