The Rt. Hon. Deputy Speaker of Parliament, Jacob Oulanyah, has urged legislators to be credit worthy and reliable in their financial dealings.
Speaking at the 14th Annual General Meeting of the Parliamentarians Cooperative Savings and Credit Society (SACCO), Oulanyah encouraged MPs to save and plan for their savings at the end of each month.
“As MPs you earn only a salary; you need to catalogue your expenditure, budget each and everything and most importantly set a target and send the monthly contribution to a fund until you achieve your target,” he said.
The 14th Annual General Meeting Parliamentarians SACCO was held at Parliament Building on Friday, 17th November 2017. The SACCO consists of current and former MPs and staff of Parliament.
The SACCO now comprises 1,048 members up from 882 last year, with share capital growing from UShs 1.3 billion to UShs 1.7 billion, or 32% increase, in the same period. The loan portfolio has seen a 94% increase, from UShs 6.3 billion to UShs 12.3 billion in 12 months.
The Board Chairperson, Hon. Jalia Bintu Lukumu (NRM, Masindi district), said that the business environment remains very competitive, especially as new players position themselves to grab a segment of the SACCO business.
“The SACCO is facing competition even from within Parliament. Most commercial banks are now into micro-finance mobilization,” said Hon. Jalia Bintu adding that “Insurance companies are now soliciting for deposits directly from the members. Telecommunication companies are into money transfer services too.”
She said that working with the management team, the Board has the capacity to handle both savers’ and borrowers’ demands and expectations, without external borrowing.
Bintu said that the SACCO had dropped the idea of borrowing UShs 4 billion from a commercial bank as the process was “slow and painful”, a proposal that would help increase the maximum loan limit from Shs 100 million to Shs 300 million per borrower. The maximum limit was however increased to UShs 200 million per borrower.
“The SACCO has become stronger and it is in a better place. Our dream is to see this SACCO become the leading SACCO in the country,” she said.
Source: Parliamentary News
