Founder of Ekeza Savings and Credit Cooperative Society David Kariuki Ngari, alias Gakuyo, has assured members that they will get back their savings.
Speaking in Mwihoko ward, Ruiru subcounty on Wednesday, he said he has disposed of land worth Sh1 billion to facilitate repayment of the money the Sacco owes members.
“I will not rest until I repay every debt I owe members. The only wrong thing was shutting down the Sacco, which had money because I couldn’t access it to repay members. But now I have my Sacco back and I will repay every coin I owe,” Gakuyo said.
The Sacco has been in an intense standoff with some 53,000 members who have been seeking repayment of their savings since its troubles started in 2018.
It was deregistered and its licence revoked in March 2018 by the Commissioner for Cooperative Development Mary Mungai for violating its operation rules, as well as failing to comply with the law.
The society had 26 branches and Sh2.56 billion in deposits at the time the licence was cancelled through a Gazette notice on March 23, 2018.
However, Mungai reinstated the Sacco’s licence in February 2019 after it met set conditions. The Sacco owed members Sh1.05 billion, according to a report read to members during a special general meeting at Kasarani in February 2019.
In January 2019, in a bid to raise money for repayment, Gakuyo Real Estate – a sister firm also owned by Gakuyo – placed an advert in a local daily listing the properties it wanted to dispose of.
They included a residential house on Nyari estate near Village Market, Nairobi; a hotel in Juja town; and a house on half-an-acre plot along the Thika-Garissa road near Makongeni estate.
Others were a four-storey building along the Thika-Garissa road; a 50-acre parcel in Kilimambogo, Thika; 100 acres in Kabati, Murang’a; and a quarry in Kabati.
Edited by Kiilu Damaris
