Widows residing in Nyeri will now have the opportunity to access loans from a tailor-made savings and cooperative society, beginning next month, Gender, Youth, and Sports CECM Esther Ndung’u has disclosed.
Speaking to KNA on Tuesday, the officer said the Sacco, expected to be launched on June 28 this year, will act as a rallying call for widows to join the facility where they can save their money, grow their savings, and later have access to affordable loans.
The idea to launch such a financial facility was mooted in 2014 during the administration of the late Nyeri Governor Nderitu Gachagua.
However, it was abandoned after his death and was only revisited when the current Governor Mutahi Kahiga, came into office.
Ms. Ndung’u says to be eligible to join the Sacco, one must be a member of a duly registered self-help group with an active constitution in place.
Nyeri County First Lady Caroline Kahiga is expected to officiate the opening ceremony.
“We want our widows to have a platform where they can save and borrow once they have put enough money into their accounts. Through such empowerment, we believe our women will have a pool where they can access crucial startup capital to help come up with investment projects that can support them financially,” she said.
The county government hopes to open up the Sacco to other members, such as widowers and youth, once the initial initiative has succeeded.
The CECM further said the government will also be launching a County Social and Gender Development Policy on the same day to act as a guiding framework that will ensure equality in resource allocation for all groups of people.
“Widows bear the brunt of life’s hurdles, including being disinherited from their matrimonial property by their in-laws. We want those widows to have a platform that can bring them together and also create an avenue from which they can access loans to sustain them in life. The members will in the future act as ambassadors who will rally their fellow colleagues to enrol, she added.
During his state of the county address in November, Kahiga told Members of the County Assembly (MCAs) that his administration had already presided over 100 cooperative elections, besides training 600 cooperative leaders on financial management and good governance.
In addition, the county boss said his administration had seen the entry of 12 additional financial entities into the cooperative industry, pushing the number of cooperative societies in Nyeri to 195 with a combined membership of 500,000 members.
The members are drawn from various income segments, ranging from agriculture to the transport sector.
The cooperative sector in Nyeri boasts of some Sh2.4 billion in share capital and an asset base of over Sh22 billion.
By Samuel Maina
