LIRA – The Police in Kwania district are investigating the actions of the leaders of Ikwera Savings and Cooperative Society –SACCO following a loss of Ugx114m.
The SACCO leaders are accused of swindling the members’ savings – leading to the temporary closure of the society. It is alleged that between May and October last year, the SACCO chairperson, Robert Odur who is currently on the run – embezzled Ugx114m, which was part of the members’ savings.
Trouble for the leaders started in July last year when some of the members stormed the SACCO offices demanding to withdraw their savings. The SACCO leadership failed to pay the members their savings – prompting some of the group affiliates to run to police for intervention.
Jimmy Okullo – the chairperson Kwania Mobile Money Association revealed that he had saved Ugx7.4m with the SACCO in 2019 but efforts to receive his money had failed.
Lillian Adongo – a farmer and a member of the SACCO said that they had saved Ugx7m.
Patrick Bura -the Kwania District Commercial Officer blamed the mess on the SACCO leadership.
Kwania DPC, Charles Mugisha confirmed the incident, adding that investigating into the matter were on-going.
However, Felix Oguna, the Manager of Ikwera SACCO said most of the members failed to service their loans amounting to Ugx68m. He said plans were underway to recover the money.
Ikwera SACCO Limited is one of the pioneer groups in the Lango sub-region.
The SACCO established in 2009 with 40 members had grown to 1,140 affiliates with a loan portfolio of Ugx270m.