The Senate Committee on Trade and Tourism has commenced a probe into a case where teachers lost Sh300 million to Metropolitan National Sacco.
The committee led by Busia Senator Okiya Omtatah sat in Bungoma on Saturday at Mabanga Agricultural Training Centre and received views from teachers.
The committee also plans to summon Cabinet Secretary (CS) for Cooperatives Simon Chelugui, Teachers Service Commission CEO Nancy Macharia, and the top leadership of KUSCO to shed light on how the teachers’ money was swindled.
Senators told journalists the three will appear before the House committee next week to shed more light.
The committee chair who is also Busia Senator, Okiya Omtatah, stated that they expect the above-mentioned individuals to provide insights into how teachers will recover their money from the embattled National Sacco.
Omtatah stressed that the Senate will not allow teachers’ monies to be swindled by conmen.
“We have listened to these teachers, we shall ensure that those who disappeared with the money will be held accountable,” Omtatah said.
Bungoma Senator Wafula Wakoli accompanied Omtattah.
The affected teachers said the Sacco has refused to release their money, despite their attempts to withdraw from it.
The teachers also accused the Teachers Service Commission (TSC) of working with the Sacco even after they submitted a withdrawal letter to the commission.
“We blame the Teachers Service Commission too because the time we saw things not going as expected we sought to withdraw from the Sacco but the Commission still remitted money to the Sacco’s account,” said one of the teachers.
They also said that they were turned away whenever they needed to take loans.
“For example when a member applies for a Sh400,000 loan, the money is not given whole but released in small installments of amounts ranging between Sh20,000 and Sh10,000,” said a teacher.
The teachers noted that they have not received dividends for the last five years despite Sacco doing business with their money.
“We would like to receive a tangible answer on how we shall receive our money, we have staged demos on the streets demanding our money but our pleas landed on deaf ears, we hope this Senate committee will help us recover our money,”
The committee directed the Teachers Service Commission (TSC) to stop remitting money to Metropolitan Sacco for members who have expressed their intention to withdraw from the savings society and promised to get to the bottom of the matter within 21 days.
By Roseland Lumwamu
