Umwalimu-Sacco seeks more govt support

Fluctuating yearly grants to Umwalimu-Sacco, a teachers’ credit and savings cooperative, is hindering its effective operation, a top Umwalimu-Sacco official has told The New Times. The head of the cooperatives board of governors, Jean Marie Vianney Nzagahimana, revealed that it constituted a planning challenge. “We want to give more teachers loans, but we can not determine how many will receive loans because we are not sure just how money will enter our coffers,” Nzagahimana said. He was addressing the media shortly after he emerged from a closed door meeting with the Minister of Education, Dr Vincent Biruta. “We have asked the Minister to initiate a process to have a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) that will define and stipulate what the cooperative will plan for,” he said. Umwalimu-Sacco has so far attracted more than 57,000 teachers. The minister said he will put a lot of emphasis in promoting the cooperative in order to improve teachers’ livelihoods. “The Government is committed to improving lives of all teachers and everything possible will be done in making sure this cooperative achieves its mission,” he said. grace.mugoya@newtimes.co.rw

National

Umwalimu-Sacco seeks more govt support