ADDRESS BY THE KUSCCO NATIONAL CHAIRMAN MR. FIDELIS KIMUTAI ON THE OCCASION OF THE 24TH KUSCCO ANNUAL DELEGATES MEETING HELD ON FRIDAY, 20TH MAY 2011 AT KUSCCO CENTRE, NAIROBI

Our Chief Guest, Hon. Joseph Nyagah, EGH, MP
Permanent Secretary, Mr. Seno Nyakenyanya, CBS
Commissioner for Co-operative Development, Mr. Fredrick Odhiambo, MBS
Provincial Co-operative Officers,
Delegates,
All protocols observed,
Ladies and Gentlemen,

On behalf of the Board, I wish to extend a warm welcome to you Sir to this occasion of our Annual Delegates Meeting which also marks the 37th Anniversary of our existence as a Union for Savings and Credit Co-operative Societies in Kenya.  I also wish to express our sincere gratitude for your acceptance to grace this occasion despite your demanding schedule.  We feel truly honored to have you in our midst.

May I also take this opportunity to congratulate all delegates assembled here, myself included for being elected to the Union.  As you can recall, it was not an easy task to win the hearts of the electorate to these positions.  Following the amendments to our by-laws our number has increased from 120 to 160 delegates.  This means we have a number of new delegates who have joined us.  I take this chance to welcome you to the SACCO Family Union.  My Board and Management have no illusions as to your abilities to deliver and will always support you through education and training to enable you to execute your rightful role as ambassadors of KUSCCO.  We are also grateful for the work done by the old delegates who were not successful on re-election.

Ladies and Gentlemen, this meeting has come at a time when SASRA has started issuing licenses to deposit taking SACCOs.  As your umbrella body, KUSCCO will continue to play a supportive role and we have realigned some of our operations to give the necessary guidance to facilitate for a smooth transition.   At the same time, we remain committed to serving our affiliates through provision of relevant products and services namely through Advocacy, the Central Finance Fund, Risk Management Services, Education and Training, Consultancy & Compliance, KUSCCO Housing Fund and Corporate Affairs and Marketing.

While the Regulations hold much promise for the future of deposit taking business, licensed SACCOs have raised concerns about the levy of 0.15% on members’ deposits that they are now required to pay to the Authority.
We have engaged SASRA on behalf of our members with a request seeking to reconsider the mode and rate of the levy.  On this note, we wish to appreciate SASRA for opening up the door for negotiation on this issue.

Hon. Minister Sir, as the mouth piece of the SACCO Movement in Kenya, we appeal to your Ministry to help address the issue of delayed remittances of deductions by the Teachers Service Commission which continue to pose a great challenge to Teacher based SACCOs across the country.  This is a problem that keeps recurring and we would be grateful if it was addressed once and for all.

In an effort to implement the 1/3 basic salary rule, the government through the Ministry of State for Public Service has engaged a private company, Payment Solutions Kenya (PSK) to manage payroll deductions for civil servants. We wish to sincerely thank the Ministry, in particular the Permanent Secretary, Mr. Seno Nyakenyanya for having stood with us in negotiating for favorable terms for the affected SACCOs.  These terms included providing the service to SACCOs at no cost and postponing the implementation date to give SACCOs adequate time to prepare.

Hon. Minister Sir, as a tradition, we have lined up arrangements for SACCO leaders to attend the World Council of Credit Unions (WOCCU) Annual Conference which will be held in Glasgow Scotland from 23rd – 29th July, 2011.  I once again extend our invitation to you to lead a delegation of SACCO Leaders in this Country to the WOCCU Conference in Scotland.

Ladies and Gentlemen, we are pleased to report that 2010 was a successful year in Union capitalization.  Our share capital grew by about 21.9% from Shs. 451M in 2009 to Shs. 550M in 2010. 

Nairobi Province led in shareholding at Shs. 195M registering a growth of 15.7% from the previous year.  Rift Valley came second with a shareholding of Shs. 92M translating to a growth of 45%.  Eastern Province was third at Shs. 64M this being a growth of 60% followed by Central Province at fourth position with Shs. 56M, a growth of 4%.  Western Province came fifth at Shs. 54M a growth of 14.9%.  Coast Province stood at position six with a shareholding of Shs. 51M marking a growth of 12% while Nyanza Province came seventh at Shs. 35M having registered a growth of 13%.
 
Hon. Chief Guest Sir, in response to the trust that members have bestowed on KUSCCO, the Board of Directors and Management equally decided to work extra hard in the year 2010 and reward shareholders a better return on their investment.  The board therefore recommends a dividend of 9% amounting to Shs. 49.06 Million.

Following the success of our pilot housing project in Kisumu under KUSCCO Housing Fund, the Union intends to replicate the same in other regions as we seek to play an active role towards addressing the government’s concerns on housing as stipulated in the Vision 2030 policy document.  In this regard, we intend to increase our borrowing powers by Shs. 2 billion to facilitate this expansion.  Further SACCO’s should endeavor to boost their shareholding support for the continued expansion of the Union.
 
Hon. Chief Guest Sir, my Board and Management wish to thank you and all other Ministry officials among them the Permanent Secretary, the Commissioner, PCOs and DCOs for the support and wise guidance that they continue to extend to KUSCCO.  We also wish to thank all partners and stakeholders who are present here today for their support and co-operation.
 
Finally Hon. Minister Sir, the new constitution calls for a major policy shift in the supervision of the co-operative movement.  Given that co-operatives will fall under the county structure of government, it is imperative that all stakeholders be involved in the policy initiatives to reposition the movement so that we are not caught unaware.  We look forward upon your office for guidance on this matter.

Thank you.

Mr. Fidelis Kimutai, KUSCCO National Chairman
KUSCCO Annual Delegates Meeting
Friday, 20th May 2011 - KUSCCO Centre

SPEECH BY HON.JOSEPH W.N. NYAGA, EGH, MP, MINISTER FOR CO-OPERATIVE DEVELOPMENT AND MARKETING DURING THE OCCASION OF THE 24^TH ANNUAL DELEGATES MEETING OF KUSCCO LTD.ON 20^TH MAY, 2011 AT KUSCCO CENTRE, NAIROBI.

The Chairman, Mr. Fidelis Kimutai,

The Managing Director, Mr. George Ototo,

Delegates,

Staff,

Invited Guests,

Ladies and Gentlemen.

I am happy to join you today during your 24^th Annual General Meeting. Let me thank you for this invitation. This is a very important day when KUSCCO delegates from all over the country converge here to share experiences, ideas and chart the way forward for their organization.

I am aware that you have just completed the process of election of delegates to the Union.I wish to congratulate all those that have elected to represent their Saccos in KUSCCO.

Mr. Chairman,

The Cooperative Movement has played a very big role in the development of our country by pooling resources for investments and wealth creation. The Movement remains the most important vehicle through which poor Kenyans can pull resources little by little and eventually grow big. Cooperative Movement has grown to cover various economic areas .These include but not limited to savings and credit (Saccos),transport, housing, agricultural, manufacturing, warehousing, ICT amongst others. This way the movement controls 43% of our gross domestic product and contributes about Kshs.230b towards our national savings.

Ladies and Gentlemen,

Towards the beginning of the 2^nd half of the year 2010, Kenyans resolved unanimously to usher in a new Constitution. This new constitution will come with various changes in our governance structure where the government will be devolved to a county level. The movement must prepare itself adequately in order to cope in the new structure of governance. In order to achieve this, I have visited various parts of the country with one clear message that the movement should come together in a very strong alliance; the cooperative Alliance of Kenya (CAK).Cooperative Alliance of Kenya will be expected to play two roles.

Firstly, the role of advocacy whereby the voice of all the 12,000 Cooperatives Societies comprising of 9 million members will be represented. Secondly, the role of mobilizing the movement for investments, whereby all the cooperators will be able to invest jointly through CAK. This is expected to improve the ownership of the economy by ordinary Mwananchi and also promote social integration and harmony. Nobody will feel left out in ownership of our country investments.

Mr. Chairman,

 Youth comprise of more than 72% of our citizens. Unfortunately, when it comes to decision making and responsibility sharing, they are left out. The position is worse in agricultural cooperatives whereby the aged comprise of more than 90% of enrolled members. This is a very dangerous trend for the future of these cooperatives. In order to reverse the trend my ministry is committed to specifically promote youth cooperatives. I am happy that we have been able to register youth in areas of transport, where drivers and boda boda cyclists have been encouraged to save little day by day. Another success story on youth is on environmental conservation where youth around the dumpsites have been encouraged to conserve the environment profitability by use of recycled matter and established of tree nurseries.

The Constitution has recognized the need to incorporate women and other marginalized groups into the management of cooperatives institutions. I therefore, call upon all cooperatives to put into place measures to comply the new constitution which may mean amendment of laws to conform.

Ladies and Gentlemen,

Saccos have grown rapidly through the years. They have offered products that are nearly identical to commercial banks. However, this sector has remained without regulation. In consultation with the movement, need was found to introduce regulation in order to safeguard members savings.

This culminated in the enactment of the Sacco Society Act and the subsequent establishment of the Sacco Societies Regulatory Authority. This is meant to bring control into this sector and hence public confidence. I therefore, urge all Saccos that have not applied for licenses from SASRA to so before the legal deadline. I am aware that various concerns have been raised on areas of lower dividends to Sacco membership Capitalization requirement and payment by SASRA .These are hiccups in the short run ,the future benefits are expected to be huge.

Mr. Chairman,

I know that KUSCCO recorded a significant growth in the year 2010.I wish to encourage you to maintain this trend in future. Training of the movement is very important and it’s your responsibility as a Sacco’s union to move around educating your membership on various issues of their concern.

In conclusion, let me take this chance to congratulate those that have received various awards and challenge others to work towards receiving an award next year.

I now take this chance to wish you fruitful deliberations during this Annual General Meeting.

Thank you.