•The current and retired members said their savings had drowned in the society which owns the 14-storey Musco Towers in the town’s CBD.
•They threatened to invade the towers and evict the liquidators saying the takeover was done fraudulently to grab hard-earned savings belonging to shareholders.
Image: FILE
Moi University staff in Eldoret have protested over stalled operations of the varsity Sacco which collapsed and has remained under liquidation for several years.
The university Sacco has more than 3,700 members and was liquidated with assets and cash operations valued at more than Sh15 billion.
The government cancelled its operation licence and the members are demanding its reinstatement.
The current and retired members said their savings had drowned in the society which owns the 14-storey Musco Towers in the town’s CBD.
They threatened to invade the towers and evict the liquidators saying the takeover was done fraudulently to grab hard-earned savings belonging to shareholders.
Some of the protesting members narrated how they had suffered after losing their retirement benefits invested in Musco.
The spokesman of the shareholders' Kebutu Rotich said since the Sacco was liquidated illegally through corruption, it had collected more than Sh400 million which cannot be accounted for.
Rotich said even after collecting the money, the liquidators had not paid any money to Cooperative Bank which is owed more than Sh500 million by the Sacco.
The debt partly led to the liquidation.
He said the liquidators' term expired on June 30 last year and they should vacate the building and the Sacco or be forcefully removed.
“There are more than 500,000 Sacco members and dependants. They are now suffering because it was liquidated and nothing has been going on,” Rotich said.
He said since the liquidators took over they had collected more than Sh60 million from members of the university, another Sh140 million had been collected as rent from Musco towers and sold out more than Sh60 million property.
The Sacco, they said, had more than Sh40 million at the time of liquidation.
Two years ago the shareholders petitioned the Senate to save Musco Towers which they said was being targeted for auction to recover Sh500 million owed to Cooperative Bank.
The Senate after investigating the matter directed that the license be reinstated.
The government had in 2018 revoked the licence of Musco and placed it under liquidation.
A gazette notice published three years ago by the Commissioner for Co-operative Development cancelled the registration of the Sacco and appointed two liquidators to take custody for a year.
Musco was established in 1988 by Moi University staff to empower themselves.
It draws membership from Moi Teaching and Referral Hospital, Masinde Muliro, Maasai Mara and Kabianga Universities.
Edited by Kiilu Damaris