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Police Sacco suspends loan issuance until March 2020
Discussion. Leaders of the Police Exodus Sacco attend a meeting at the Police headquarters in Naguru, Kampala on December 23. COURTESY PHOTO
Police Exodus Sacco has suspended giving out loans to officers until March 2020 because of the ongoing audit of accounts and investigations into the mismanagement of saving scheme.
Recently, the Police Joint Chief of Staff Brig Jack Bakasumba ordered an inquiry into the alleged mismanagement of funds of the Police Exodus Sacco after the new sacco managers took over.
Police spokesman Fred Enanga said during this period, the new sacco leadership will review and verify funds on four bank accounts.
“The new leadership is mainstreaming the operations of the sacco. The sacco workers are also being retrained in management skills. As the leadership does that, the police officers will not be able to get loans until March 1 next year,” Commissioner of Police Enanga said.
Officers who had applied for loans months back will also be affected by the suspension.
The management of the Police Exodus Sacco has been under 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 since the inception of the sacco they have never got dividends despite its revenues increasing year after year. The Exodus Sacco has more than Shs20b in members’ saving.
The Parliament asked the minister of Internal Affairs to present a report on the finances of the Exowdus Sacco. The minister is expected to present the report next month when Parliament resumes business.
Members of the Police Exodus Sacco have been complaining about their failure to get loans and withdraw savings in time.
The police officers have been depending on the Police Exodus Sacco to get loans to pay school fees for their children.
The Police Sacco offers loans at an interest rate of 15 per cent annually, which is much lower than 20 per cent that commercial banks charge in the same period.
CP Enanga said the new management is working with the Registrar of Cooperatives to trace the book of accounts of the sacco that went missing.
“We shall depend on the verification report to determine whether to institute criminal investigations against some managers or not,” he said.
The former Exodus Sacco chairman, Mr Henry Kalulu, recently said they could trace the books of accounts for the Sacco for six years before he took leadership.
The Sacco has been supplying food to the Force but it has not been paid arrears amounting to Shs2b.
