Siaya Teachers’ Burial and Benevolent Fund (STBBF) has moved to court to recover over Sh7 million allegedly misappropriated by former officials, Secretary Calvin Ochieng has said.
According to Ochieng, the decision to seek legal redress to recover the funds was reached following a forensic audit of the fund accounts which revealed a trail of misappropriation.
Addressing the media in Siaya town, while flanked by the fund officials led by chairman Ambrose Ouma and treasurer Jacinta Ojuka, the secretary said the officials were alarmed by reports from the officials whom they took over from that indicated that an account opened for funds generated by a Hearse had Sh7 million balance while in reality, it was dormant and had no single cent.
“The outgoing office had reported during an annual general meeting that preceded elections that kicked them out of the office that the fund was sound financially, but when we went to check the accounts upon taking over, we found that the current account had Sh122, 000, the savings account had Sh4, 680, and the hearing account was dormant and had nothing,” he said, while reacting to complaints from a section of the BBF members that they had ignored the plight of retired teachers.
Ochieng said they were optimistic that the fund would be able to recover the money from the ex-officials and pump it back to the members.
He said that contrary to reports that they were not reimbursing money to the retired members, the secretary said they have been progressively doing so adding that in the year 2023, they spent Sh2 million to reimburse those who sought to retire from the scheme.
“When we took over, there was a backlog of Sh13, 178, 816 owed to 342 members which we have progressively reduced,” he said, adding that the executive committee has resolved to arrange for a meeting with the retirees to chart the best way forward.
STBBF chairman Ouma assured members that the fund was sound, having overcome the hiccups that dogged the previous office.
“The society is doing well and we are doing our work as mandated by the constitution,” said Ouma.
A section of the STBBF members on Monday accused the officials of frustrating retired teachers and those transferred out of Siaya County by delaying to refund their dues.
Led by Mr. Anthony Owuor, the teachers complained that the fund was being run in total disregard for its constitution, which states that retired members should get their dues within 60 days of retirement.
By Philip Onyango
