Kenya's Largest Teacher's Sacco Rocked By Sex And Looting On A Massive Scale

The Machakos teachers SACCO (savings and credit co-operative) is probably the largest institution of its kind in Kenya with a share capital of Sh 1.3 billion and over 10,000 members. This is hardly surprising when you realize that Machakos and Makueni districts (previously one district called Machakos) has the highest number of primary schools in the country. This SACCO was once considered a success story until a couple of years ago when everything started to fall apart.

Apparently, everything was going on well until the top officials got greedy and decided to indiscriminately 'borrow' large amounts of money from the society which they have not only refused to repay but are now milking the organization dry at the expense of teachers.

At the center of the scandal is the general manager Solomon Ngomo and his assistant Peter Kyelenzi who have amassed so much wealth over a very short period of time but have managed to fool the teachers by pretending to be deeply religious men and concealing their vast assets.

The duo who are form four drop-outs with Kyelenzi barely able to speak fluent English also stand accused of trading sex for jobs at the sacco where young pretty girls are hired every six months as casuals and can only have their contracts renewed if they hop into bed with the two top officials.

For those seeking permanent employment, the scenario is not any better, the interview includes liaisons with the boss at his second floor office at Mwalimu center which is complete with bathroom facilities and a bed.

Little wonder that majority of the employees at the sacco are pretty women including people's wives as the two top officials play the dangerous game of having affairs with married women.

A teacher who spoke to this writer on condition of anonymity said it now takes six months to have an application for an emergency loan processed with no guarantees that one will get the money.

Worse still, those applying for normal development loans have to wait for more than six months to have their forms processed and again there are no guarantees that you will access the money.

This has led to an exodus from the sacco with those members coming from Yatta and Masinga opting to join the Thika teachers sacco which is not only nearer to their work stations but offers efficient services and is much better run.

Numerous calls to have the sacco investigated have come to naught as the two officials use money to stifle any form of investigations including nosy journalists who are paid off when they start asking questions concerning the way the sacco is run.

The teachers are now moving out of the sacco after discovering that Ngomo has recently completed a Sh 30 million petrol station along Mombasa road and bought a new sports utility vehicle worth millions of shillings which he gave to his daughter as a gift after she graduated from Daystar university.

A popular Swahili saying says the days of a thief are forty and both Ngomo and Kyelenzi's 40 days are not up yet but the duo could be in for a shock and the beginning of the end for their errant ways could come this year when the government reigns in on errant sacco's. It is expected that the first step to doing this will be the passing of legislation to exercise more control on the way these societies are run.


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