Bukonzo United Teachers’ SACCO has donated over 500kgs of cassava flour to the district’s Covid-19 Taskforce as food relief to vulnerable communities in Kasese district,.
Handing over the donation on Tuesday this week, the SACCO’s Chairperson, Erisania Kule said that members had thought it wise to share what little they could with the rest of the community.
“Our SACCO has both teachers and community membership and therefore we must share the little we have with those in need during this lockdown,” Kule said.
He noted that Bukonzo United Teachers SACCO is majorly based on credit and savings, and therefore had to mobilise from its profits for the donations.
“We (the SACCO) have been in existence for ten years and have been earning income, a part of which we have used for this donation,” Kule explained.
Kasese district deputy RDC, Joshua Masereka, who received the donation on behalf of the taskforce, thanked the teachers for the contribution saying theirs was the first SACCO in the district to make a donation.
He called upon other SACCOs to do emulate them in giving back to their communities.
Covid-19 effect
The SACCO’s Chairperson noted with concern the low loan recovery rate in the wake of the Covid-19-related lockdown. In response, the SACCO has since rescheduled members’ outstanding payments by extending the payback period with no penalties.
The ongoing crisis has also forced the SACCO to be more cautious in extending loans to members, depending on how much one has saved, and prioritising those whose businesses are still in operation.
“We are careful with liquidity and are very mindful of how much we give out to customers, except in cases of emergency and for customized loans,” Kule said.
Resilience
Kule believes that if Bukonzo United Teachers’ SACCO is to survive, members must develop the internal capacity of funding it through buying shares.
The SACCO has two categories of members:
“We have those with the mandatory 10 shares, and those (teachers) who buy shares every month. Dividends are shared at the end of each year,” he explained.
As of February this year, the SACCO had 2400 members, each holding a minimum of 10 shares of Shs 20,000 each and a total share capital of Shs 480m.
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