Mwalimu National Deposit Taking Sacco has today opened a new satellite office in Busia County at Benna Plaza ground floor between Equity Bank and County Assembly of Busia, to serve close to 4,000 members in its bid to devolve the services close to its members.
The move have been welcomed by members mostly teachers in Busia County, who had to walk to Bungoma, Kakamega, or Kisumu counties to get the services. The decision will also increase the membership of the Sacco in the county since a good number of basic services like loans will be accessed in the new satellite office.
The new satellite office will be managed by the Sacco’s Kakamega branch, with Robert Ouko, Mwalimu National DT Sacco Kakamega Branch Manager, being tasked with the responsibilities of overseeing operations in the office.
Speaking to Education News after the launch, Ouko noted that the Sacco members can now access a number of services in the new satellite office without necessarily travelling the long distances as it was the case before, with expectations of upgrading it to a fully flagged branch in the near future.
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“The bottom line is that Mwalimu National is trying to delocalize its services since we’ve been tagged as a Sacco of the city. So we are trying to just come back where our members are,” said Ouko.
“It’s a branch but not with 100% of the services. For instance services like credit, a member should walk in here and get a loan. Other services like deposits will follow later after relevant logistics will have been undertaken,” he added.
Mwalimu National DT Sacco Busia and Teso branch Chairman Omwanda Mathews also acknowledged the move challenging teachers and other stakeholders in Busia to register in large numbers, so that they can get a fully flagged branch.
“We are happy and most excited because the turnaround time to access the facilities in Kakamega, Bungoma, and Kisumu has been a toll order. As we are speaking right now we’ve had members in the morning they have been assisted, money has been credited in their accounts, and they are now in class teaching. It’s a good thing and I believe our members will like it,” said Omwanda.
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“Our request to our members is that they do mass recruitment and increase our numbers since we are planning in less than one year, we want it be a fully flagged branch. Currently we are over 3,400 memberships, and if we get to 7,000 we shall be given a branch,” he added.
The same call was echoed by the Kenya Union of post Primary Education Teachers (KUPPET) Busia Executive Secretary Moffats Okisai, who urged teachers in the county to register in large numbers as members of the Sacco.
“Mwalimu National cannot be for us without us. I would like to urge members to embrace the teacher for a teacher, easy to guarantee each other loans, let our credit worthiness be sound, because now money has been brought closer to us. The issues of time wastage it will now be a thing of the past for Busia teachers. I want to encourage our members to join the Sacco and have their savings there,” said Okisai.
By Hezron Roy
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