Some members of Invest and Grow (IG) Sacco have petitioned the Co-operatives and Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises Development (MSMEs) Cabinet Secretary Wycliffe Oparanya and the Ethic and Anti-Corruption Commission (EACC) to commence investigations on massive looting at the Sacco.
The members request come days after the sacco in Malava was raided by unknown people who took away computers but left millions in a safe, pointing to a cover-up by the management.
They have pointed accusing fingers at the management led by Chairman Kennedy Keya and the CEO Peter Vuhya of leading a cabal of individuals to cripple the Sacco.
They regretted that which recently recorded a 34 per cent growth in loan disbursement to members in the last financial year could face collapse.
The Sacco is one of the few Saccos that were doing well, reporting a 46 per cent growth in income-based loans compared to investment-based loans.
IG Sacco was formed in 1977 and registered as a Co-operative Society, with a total membership of 115, which has since grown to 26,000. Majority of them are teachers.
Through visionary leadership, committed members and staff, the Sacco has undergone tremendous transformation and developed its rich history over the years. The Sacco rebranded from Kakamega Teachers Sacco Ltd, KATECO to IG Sacco Ltd in 2015.
The members who spoke on condition of anonymity for fear of reprisal also name David Okwemba, Secretary, David Moyia, Treasurer, Mary Awino, Finance Manager together with Bosco Munzatsi, ICT Manager and accomplices; Sammy Chahayo, Pius Mola and James Atemba as individauls working in cohorts to cripple the sacco.
The claim is manifest in the massive wealth acquired by each. It is worth noting that the Chairperson Kennedy Keya commands remarkable affluence.
He is the owner of Hospital View Estate in Kakamega Town, Various Rental Buildings in Vihiga and Kisumu City with 4 magnificent storey buildings in Kakamega Town.
At the same time, the Chief Executive Officer Peter Vuhya owns vast but valuable estates in Eldoret Town, a storey building in the heart of Bungoma County and expansive land in the same county with an expensive rental house in Busia and Kakamega Towns respectively.
Vuhya has amassed enough fiscal capacity from the SACCO is said to be eyeing to be Hamisi MP come 2027.
He is now dishing out millions in churches, institutions and community groups.
The Treasurer, Moyia has 12 tractors with high-end cars and matatus plying the Western region.
One of his private residences is decorated with a value-worth storey building with unique furnishes.
He has constructed palatial Rental Buildings in Webuye, Kakamega, Bungoma and Busia Towns with 150 Acres of land in the expensive Kitale Settlement Scheme in Trans-Nzoia County and 100 Acres in the rural Lurambi Area in Kakamega County.
Mary Awino- the sacco Finance Manager is endowed with wealth beyond her employment class.
She controls various personal investments. She has two storey buildings in Kakamega Town along the busy Kakamega-Mumias-Busia-Uganda Highway.
The habitual grabbing that has bedeviled the one-time noble sacco led the clique into adulterating the Sinking Fund.
The Sinking Fund takes care of loans defaulted due to natural attrition or other natural and artificial but notable circumstances.
The clique of individuals have influenced the employment of relatives to post them in strategic positions in the Finance Departments.
It is alleged that teachers who cooperate with the fraudulent clique are often used to open bank account are used to fraudulently withdraw massive amount of money from the Sacco.
The funds are then withdrawn by the very teachers to give the bigger chunk of it to the uncouth managers and administrators; leaving them (the teachers) with mere tokens of appreciation for patronizing the illegal routine acts of the syndicate.
Unfortunately, the very teachers ended up suffering forfeiture of their shares with other deductions to service the loans the heartless clique had enjoyed the same to scale up investment in physical assets.
The clique has illegally continued trading with the sacco using proxies with registered companies who earn tokens from the dirty deals.
An ICT employee was used by some Board Members and Senior Administrators to facilitate irregular procurement procedures and fraudulent transactions at the SACCO.
They own the better fraction of Kakamega and Bungoma Towns where they have invested heavily in real estate.
Some Members of the County Assembly were advanced huge loans with intention of the Management and Administration getting huge tokens from the same with promises of writing off part of the loans when defaulted.
Some staff members joined the dirty art and practice and started using names of MCAs to access the credit facilities thence defrauding the sacco.
Some Annual Reports with figures like KSh30 million advanced to MCAs and not repaid call for probing and prosecution. Some Staff Members and Board Members are currently owing to the SACCO huge illegal loans.
Some External Auditors are compromised to keep blind eyes on the records of the SACCO as they too benefit from the illegal practice. Reports that reached the Regional EACC officers were thwarted as the management and Administration acted first to buy their silence on the matter.
The Clique has shockingly paid themselves allowances to the tune of Shs100,000 per month over services that can least be accounted for. This has been done in full light, knowledge and nod of SASRA as some officers in the public system access tokens from the brutal Clique.
Funny scenarios have characterized the running of the one-time robust and popular sacco.
The aggregate property held by this clique is approximately Shs1.5 billion. A lifestyle audit of the named officers if conducted shall salvage the future of IG Sacco whose initial goals and objects purposed to enhance the livelihoods of the Sacco members, their dependents and the local community populace.
It is imperative that the Head Office of EACC intervenes in this matter to bring to book perpetrators of such a high-level corruption.
Word has it that some Regional EACC Officials have been compromised with huge sums of money to sustain silence over the ongoing vice of corruption.
