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Police Sacco boss speaks out on halting withdrawals
The chairman of the Police Exodus Savings and Credit Cooperative Organisations (Sacco) has said a halt on police officers withdrawing their savings will continue as they await approval of the new rules by the Police Advisory Committee.
Senior Commissioner Wilson Omoding halted withdrawal of savings in December last year after he was elected chairman of the Exodus Sacco and promised to resume the process in March 2020.
The failure of police officers to withdraw their savings, during time of the lockdown as the government contained the novel coronavirus pandemic, has caused discomfort among the Sacco members, especially the junior officers.
“Tentatively all withdrawals are pending new rules after the Sacco contracted consultants who have developed a policy manual. It has already been reviewed by the Sacco Board and forwarded to the Police Advisory Committee (PAC) for their final approval,” SCP Omoding said yesterday.
“We are fast tracking the process and as soon as the withdrawal rules are adopted by the PAC, members will immediately start accessing the savings on their individual accounts,” he added.
Last year, the Police Joint Chief of Staff, Maj Gen Jack Bakasumba, ordered an inquiry into the alleged mismanagement of funds by former Sacco managers.
The management of the Police Exodus Sacco has been in the spotlight since it started in 2007.
Police officers have been forced to save with Exodus Sacco monthly with the lowest officers saving the minimum of Shs20,000, but they have allegedly never received dividends nor accessed loans or saving withdrawals.
According to SCP Omoding, the financial impropriety that was alleged to have been committed in the Sacco is still under investigations.
“The investigators and auditors are reviewing all summary reports and tracing back the accounting procedures. This has enabled us to adopt accounting procedures that are accurate and transparent to avoid similar occurrences,” he said.
The former chairman of the Police Exodus Sacco, Mr Henry Kalulu, while handing over office, attributed the problem to the managers he replaced, whom he said didn’t leave any books of accounts.
Early this year, the manager of the Sacco was arrested and interrogated on allegations of financial impropriety.
Early this month, police officers ran to their Members of Parliament with complaints that they were unable to access loans in the Police Exodus Sacco.
But SCP Omoding has denied the allegations saying they give out loans and that since January they have disbursed Shs3.3b to 686 members.
“That includes Shs912m to 128 members who have been financially impacted by the coronavirus [pandemic],” he said.
The Sacco has also been supplying food to police but the police management hasn’t been paying for years.
SCP Omoding said the police management has agreed to clear Shs3b that it owes the Sacco, which will improve on their liquidity ratio.
