Malawi decries corruption, dishonesty in Saccos

Malawi Government has bemoaned corruption and dishonesty in some savings and credit cooperatives (Saccos) in the country, warning it will severely punish those implicated in the malpractice.

Ministry of Industry and Trade director of finance and administration Sebastiano Sentala said this in Lilongwe on Saturday during the Leadership Forum for the Malawi Union of Savings and Credit Cooperatives (Muscco), the umbrella body for Saccos.

Sentala said the newly passed law on cooperatives empowers the Reserve Bank of Malawi (RBM) to deal with all cases of mismanagement of funds in Saccos.

Muscco chief executive officer Sylvester Kadzola said the central bank has already started helping them to deal with employers who fail to remit savings of their employees to Muscco.

“We have a membership of about 120 000 with total savings of about K2.7 billion [about $10.8 million] as of end of last year. Out of this money, about K2.3 billion [about $9.2 million] had gone out to the members in form of loans,” he said.