The Director of Cooperative Societies and Marketing Western Province Nathan Mukhweso has praised the current management of Bungoma Sacco for dealing with fraudulent cases among the staff members.

 Addressing delegates of the Sacco at the Bungoma County Hall during the Annual General Meeting (AGM), Mukhwesi that cases of the staff defrauding members’ money have drastically reduced owing to punitive measures introduced by the current management.

Mr. Mukhwesi recalled an incident during the dark days at the Sacco where a staff stole Sh 300,000 while a full board of directors meeting where he was also present was going on.

As such, he urged the delegates and members of Bungoma Teachers Sacco to support the current management as it tries to transform the current Sacco to a county banking institution saying as a ministry they are also fighting corruption in cooperative societies. (Read: Bungoma Teachers SACCO; On the verge of collapse.

‘’We must introduce punitive measures for those who want to defraud members money, the constitution is very clear that corrupt individuals should not hold any public office,’’ Mukhweso said.

He urged the management to enrich the Sacco through making important strategic decisions during AGM’ s as opposed to plotting to steal from the Sacco especially when they have made large profits.

‘’It is unique that in this region people are yet to embrace the culture retaining dividends in order to increase shareholding,’’ he pointed out.

The provincial director also appealed to the management to introduce other investments especially at the wake of the county government in order to increase sources of income to the society.

He discouraged the culture of introducing splinter Sacco’s instead saying such societies should be liquidated to increase profit levels.

Mukweso further urged members of the Sacco to avoid court cases saying with the current judicial system in the country such as court litigations, are expensive in regard to time before the final ruling.

‘’After the ruling is made you realize that a lot of money is spent to pay lawyers, money that could go to members as profit.

 He urged the management to engage Kenya Revenue Authority (KRA) on how to pay a back-dated tax amounting to Sh 17.6 Million.

“As a Sacco you must make sure you comply with the new KRA laws so that you are not caught in such situations after KRA auditing.”

The chairman of the Sacco Gabriel Wasike appealed to members to report misconduct behaviors of the staff so that necessary disciplinary action can be taken without waiting to raise such issues during AGM meetings.

He told delegates that normally warnings up to three times are given to staffs who act contrary to the policies of the Sacco while asserting that fraud cases are dismissed immediately without warning.

‘’You cannot warn a person who has stolen for instance Sh. 50,000 because you will be giving the same person an avenue to steal more,’’ Wasike affirmed.