The government has swiftly constituted a team to investigate the troubled Metropolitan Sacco that has financial challenges.
The team will investigate the financial and governance structures of the Sacco following complaints from its members.
Apart from that, it will also expand its net to investigate the managing directors of the former Kiambu Teachers Sacco.
Currently, the members of the Sacco are yet to receive their dividend payout following a government freeze on dividend sharing plan after an investigation indicated that the Sacco was facing liquidity challenges.
The probe comes three years after Co-operative Bank took over the consultancy of the Sacco.
As per Gazette Notice No. 4558, the Commissioner for Co-operative Development David Obonyo will form a team of four officials who will go ahead and investigate the Sacco and file their findings in 15 days.
Also under investigation is current and previous directors of the Sacco. The team will constitute Director of Co-operative Audit (Javel Murira), the manager in charge of regulations (Dr. David Gitonga Kahuthu), the principal Co-operative officer (Kennedy Otachi), and Senior Compliance Officer (Daniel Mue Mwatu).
Some of notable issues raised by the complainants include refusal to refund entire share capital after a member exits the Sacco, lengthy loan approval process, non-functional mobile banking services, and withholding of 50 percent of member dividends.
The Sacco, which has a membership of 75,000, stopped paying its members’ dividends in 2021, two years after the organisation started facing financial trouble.