Moyo SACCO in crisis: How did the cooperative get here?
MOYO, August 15, 2026 —Moyo Savings and Credit Cooperative Society Limited, [Moyo SACCO]—the “Pride of the Madi Sub-region” as it is commonly acclaimed, began in 2002 as a Village Savings and Loan Association with Shs 12 million in share capital. It later transitioned into a SACCO in July 2003 and had until recently grown into a pioneer financial cooperative in Moyo District serving over 20,000 members with a share value of Shs 1.34 billion, savings of Shs 9.15bln, and a loan portfolio of over Shs 11.18bln as at the end of the financial year 2025. The SACCO has adopted digital platforms to enhance efficiency and diversify its commission-based non-interest income by becoming a Super-Agent for MTN Mobile Money and the Wendi (Pearl Bank) platform. Over the years, the SACCO has been a market leader in West Nile’s microfinance sector, operating in Moyo Town, Obongi Town Council, and three satellite offices in the Laropi, Lefori, and Parolinya/Itula sub-counties.
Notwithstanding its long history of progress and stability, 2024 marked the escalation of the SACCO’s decline. A year later, the tone of the 2025 annual report could tell the story of a financial cooperative in crisis, posting a deficit for the second consecutive year and a 50% fall in other incomes. The analysis of the SACCO’s performance as contained in the annual report provides deeper insight into the troubles the SACCO is faced with. Some of the challenges cited include forged land agreements, making them worthless during foreclosure; guarantors’ ignorance; rampant loan diversion; runaway defaulters who go hiding in neighbouring Democratic Republic of Congo and South Sudan. Laxity by the staff in following proper appraisal and recovery measures, contributing to a high number of non-performing loans. For example, the report identified 651 cases of non performing loans obtained in 2018 and the prior years, totalling close to Shs 4.4bn..
The SACCO further reported a growing mismatch between the demand for credit and the contribution of member savings to liquidity for lending. It is no wonder the SACCO only disbursed Shs 818 million in 2025 compared to Shs 1.28 billion in 2024 as a cautious attempt to improve portfolio quality. Since the SACCO has borrowed to finance its lending needs, the cooperative is faced with rising financing costs, amidst weak operational systems controls superintended over by members and leaders with limited information, skills and knowledge given their inadequate training, if any.
The report also highlighted poor staff supervision by management to have resulted in unabated misconduct with cases including absenteeism, instigation and incitement of fellow staff and members, spreading of malicious propaganda against the SACCO, smuggling of official documents and fraud becoming rampant in the cooperative. As a result, the SACCO had dismissed several staff and suspended 2 others including the General Manager by the end of the financial year 2025. Some of these staff were accused of undermining the authority of the Board of Directors, Supervisory Board and Management, making it difficult for the SACCO to function and causing member withdrawal, erosion of trust and fraud etc. The failing relationship among the society’s organs were also reported to be a result of a lack of segregation of duties, non-compliance with internal controls, and interference from political or external parties as well as the uncooperative conduct of members contrary to the cooperative values and principles..
Just as the SACCO hoped for a better future, all hell broke loose during the 20th Annual General Meeting which took place on the 16th May 2026, when the vetting committee was accused of presenting some irregular candidates for election. According to a court document dated June 22, 2026 in which the then incumbent chairman -Simon Peter Anyanzo Lenin, is suing the Attorney General and the Registrar of Cooperatives-Robert Bariyo Barigye, it is alleged that the AGM found irregularities and illegitimacies in the conduct of the vetting committee amongst which the DCO is an ex-officio member. Per the same documents, the May 16, General Assembly had resolved that the current board and other committees would continue to serve until a Special General Meeting is convened after the Office of the Registrar has investigated the claimed irregularities of the vetting committee decisions and actions.
The court documents also provide a detailed chronology of events that further complicate and worsen the already dire situation of the SACCO. For example, the District Commercial Officer of Moyo district, Jukoni Yaphet Aii is accused of single-handedly attempting to dissolve the board of the SACCO through a letter he authored on May 18, 2026 just two days after the messy AGM. The registrar had to save the DCO from his mess by demanding that he retracts this action, guiding that the latter had no legal mandate and authority to dissolve the board of a society.
Gripped by confusion, the registrar sent a delegation of officers to assess the situation out of which the same team constituted an “interim committee” to organise the elections of the vetting committee which would subsequently organise the elections of the board. It is this same interim committee that immediately suspended the then acting manager and reinstalled the general manager who had been suspended by the previous board. Notwithstanding, the complaints of bias and concern about the appropriateness of the proposed candidates who had been presented by the previous vetting committee during the 20th AGM, the interim committee is said to have worked with the registrar’s office and organised the election of vetting committee members on July 4th and later a new board on the 31st of July with some of these being contested members.
In the midst of this drama, there are reports that business at Moyo SACCO has deteriorated to an all time low,with sections of anxious members drawing down their savings, while defaulters who imagine the SACCO will completely collapse are not paying back their loan. Consequently, by the end of July, it is alleged that the SACCO could only lend up to Shs 1 million per qualified borrower and there was speculation that the SACCO may fail to pay its creditors. This complicates SACCO’s ability to attract new savings and credit from lenders. Moreso, the members who align with the previous board are also accusing the interim committee of disenfranchisement during the election of the new vetting committee further blaming the registrar’s office for worsening the SACCO’s precarious situation.
Indeed, the June 22, 2026, suit against the registrar accuses him of usurping the power of Moyo SACCO members arguing that he had no mandate and authority to appoint an interim committee when the previous AGM had resolved to conclude elections of new committee members during a future Special General Meeting. Moreso, the complainants accuse the registrar’s office of appointing persons without integrity to this interim committee. Specifically, Mr. Majid Abdul Nasur who was installed as chairman of the interim committee had been dismissed from the District Service Commission, following an investigation by the Inspectorate of Government that found his appointment to the DSC was irregular on account of forgery of academic documents.
theCooperator interviewed Robert Mpakibi, the Assistant Commissioner for Cooperative Development to understand where his office derived the powers to constitute an interim committee; he explained that it was an administrative decision which was meant to fill the void created when elections of the new board did not happen during the SACCO’s 20th AGM. But he did not confirm whether the action of his office was legal.
On further examination, it can be assumed that the registrar may have derived his authority from the provisions of sections 89(1-4) of the Cooperative Societies Act Cap 107 which provides as below:
“ (1)The Registrar may, by order in writing, remove from office a chairperson, director or the chief executive of a savings and credit cooperative society if satisfied that in the public interest or for preventing the affairs of the Savings and Credit Cooperative Society being conducted in a manner detrimental to the interests of the depositors or for securing the proper management of the Savings and Credit Cooperative Society, it is necessary to do so; (2) The removal under subsection (1), shall take effect from such date as may be prescribed by the Registrar; (3) A person aggrieved by the decision of the Registrar may, within fourteen days after making the order, make representations to the Registrar and the Registrar may modify, cancel or uphold his or her decision to remove that person or impose any conditions on the modification or cancellation; (4) Where an order under subsection (1) has been made, the Registrar may appoint any suitable person in place of the chairperson, director or chief executive who has been removed from office to hold that office for such period as the letter of appointment may specify”
However, given the integrity issues surrounding the chairman of the said interim committee,Mr. Majid Abdul Nasur, the registrar’s office appears to have contradicted section 89(6), which states that “A person who has been convicted of an offence involving financial impropriety, fraud, or financial loss shall not become or continue in the management of a savings and credit cooperative society”.
Whatever the outcome of the court case, the situation at Moyo SACCO is definitely one that the SACCO movement should take keen interest in. A quick and professional resolution of the matters will go a long way in protecting members’ savings, restoring trust and healing amongst the Madi people, whose pride appears to have been severely shaken.
https://thecooperator.news/registrar-orders-sgm-for-moyo-sacco-amid-governance-dispute/
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