The government recently embarked on a process to compensate citizens who lost their money to embezzlement that has marred the decentralised Savings and Credit Cooperatives popularly known as Umurenge SACCO. These SACCOs which are set up in all sectors of the country – 416 of them – were introduced to promote the saving culture among Rwandans and also stimulate business activity in the country, especially in rural communities, among other reasons. They have specifically been influential in driving the country’s social protection programmes. For instance, funds such as subsistence stipends for the vulnerable residents and payments for those doing public works under Ubudehe programme, have all been channeled through these SACCOs. This implied a significant increase of the banked population among other benefits. Despite the tremendous steps these institutions have made in achieving these objectives however, they have been largely marred by mismanagement which is likely to undo the gains made if left unchecked. For starters, these SACCOs were initially perceived by some leaders in local governments to be part of the resources allocated to them, and therefore ended up using them for purposes totally different from what they were intended to do. At worst, some of these leaders saw them as an opportunity to siphon and enrich themselves, as different cases have unfolded over the years. The biggest chunk of the money was however stolen by managers and accountants of these SACCOs, who feel that since the people those savings are in charge of are naïve and uneducated, they have an opportunity to fleece them of their hard-earned money. This naturally led to the erosion of trust among the public, who had progressively been brought into the fold to join the banked population, and they suddenly went back to the traditional beliefs that their money was safer under their pillows than on a bank account. We cannot allow this to happen and, credit to the government, people who lost their deposits in SACCOs under these circumstances are going to be compensated as the judiciary continue to do their work of holding to account the culprits. It was a noble gesture by the government. However, the most important and urgent thing to do is to expedite the reforms in the operations of these SACCOs, by automating them to pave the way for the creation of a cooperative bank. This will help in the proper management of people’s savings and bring about the rapid economic transformation in our communities. Zigama CSS of our armed forces is a good example.
