HUYE – All existing Savings and Credit Cooperatives will be merged with the new Umurenge SACCO- at Sector levels so as to boost saving, Francois Kalisa, an official from the Ministry of Gender and Family Promotion has said.

He revealed this during a meeting between Ministry officials and members of the Union of Savings and Credit Cooperatives - UCAPEC and representatives of different cooperatives in the district.

Kalisa said that the plan to combine Umurenge- SACCO with other savings and credit cooperatives is strategically intended to pull together resources for the benefit of members.

"If this plan succeeds, members will earn more profits and this will encourage other people to join,” Kalisa said.

Since their inception in 2002 it has been noted that such SACCOs due in part to their current capital structures have operated like small associations mostly with limited funding capabilities.

However, according to a report presented during the meeting, the existing 123 cooperatives have been registering growth. The cooperatives have registered 53,000 members of which 23,000 are women.

Innocent Maniriho, the coordinator of the union noted that the merger of Umurenge -SACCO with other savings cooperatives would be of great benefit to members.

"We are going to launch a campaign of explaining to our members the process of merging Umurenge-SACCO and other savings and credit cooperatives and the advantages that come with the merger,” he said.

"We will make it clear to them that the merger aims at making the cooperatives stronger so that they can effectively carry out their saving and lending functions.”

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