KAMPALA – Speaker of Parliament, Annet Anita Among has pledged to throw her weight behind the harmonisation of laws governing the operations of the Saving and Credit Cooperative Organisations -SACCOs.
Among – who was responding to a concern raised by the Board Chairperson of the Parliamentary SACCO, Robert Migadde during the organisation’s Annual General Meeting on Friday noted that it was improper for the legislators’ saving scheme to lack a legal backing.
Migadde had pointed out that the operations of SACCOs were affected by multiple supervision by the Ministry of Trade, Uganda Microfinance Regulatory Authority – UMRA as well as the Central Bank.
“The Cooperative Societies Act places SACCOs under the management of Ministry of Trade while the tier 4 Microfinance and Moneylenders Act places big SACCOs under the management of the Bank of Uganda. On the other hand, all SACCOs are under the Uganda Microfinance Regulatory Authority,” he noted.
Migadde said that the Parliamentary SACCO would seek guidance and leadership from lawmakers on harmonising regulation of the savings organisations to ease operations.
Among tasked Migadde to consider introducing a Private Member’s Bill to cure the challenge of multiple supervision of SACCOs.
“We understand that work of the SACCOs is stifled by operating under the supervision of varying entities who may have their own agendas and demands,” she said adding: “We do not want our SACCOs to be conflicted regarding who they report to.”
She applauded the Parliamentary SACCO management for ensuring easy and timely accessibility of savings to members.
“Every time I have attempted to access money, it has been a cinch, only taking me under an hour to receive the money,” she noted.
Among urged legislators who had not yet joined the SACCO to come on board – saying that this would enable them enjoy the favourable financial services the savings organisation offers.
The Parliamentary SACCO reported an increase in gross revenue by 15 per cent, from Ugx4.77b in 2021 to Ugx5.48b in 2022.
It was further reported that total assets have grown by 53 per cent from Ugx30.9b to Ugx47.3b, whilst members’ earnings increased from Ugx2.71b to Ugx7.7b.
