Robert Lukhanda Shibutse, CEO at Real People
Hello Cyprian
The current woes facing Mwalimu National Sacco can be summed up in three words: Robert Lukhanda Shibutse.
Dr Shibutse (Phd) was part of the management at Equatorial Commercial Bank and he was the CFO. During his tenure he cut deals and stole from this bank.
When he realized that he and his other thieving colleagues in senior management had crippled the bank he decided to make a move and was lucky to land the CEO role at Mwalimu Sacco.
Ever the conniving thief, he engineered ways to also "chew” the once stable Sacco. He, first of all, ensured that the Sacco put up a building in the already office bloated upper hill at an exaggerated cost so as to get kickbacks from contractors.
READ: Co-operative Alliance of Kenya seeks answers from mismanaged Mwalimu National Sacco Sasra suspends CEO and Board Chairperson of Mwalimu Sacco Spire Bank in panic after regulator cracks whip on Mwalimu National Sacco The deadly blow to the once financially sound Sacco was struck when Shibutse sought to have Mwalimu Sacco to buy 51% shareholding in Equatorial Commercial Bank. He was able to get authorization from the CBK when it was being run by the Corrupt Njuguna Ndung'u.
SASRA which is now playing saint also approved the transaction and so did the competition authority of Kenya. We can all guess how this approval was acquired. His scheme to have Mwalimu Sacco invest in this shell bank has led to the loss of Sh1.2 billion due to the dilution of the Sacco’s shareholding in the bank.
Shibutse is now a CEO at Real People, a rogue organization that raised a bond of Sh2.5 billion, which was approved by the CMA, and has in three occasions failed to pay the bondholders after the maturity of the corporate bond. God know what he is up to there Brief history In December 2020, Mwalimu National Sacco (MNS) fully acquired Spire Bank from businessman Naushad Merali at a tune of Sh2.4 billion, taking up a 75 stake in the lender.
Spire Bank (formerly Equaorial Commercial Bank) has struggled since acquisition by Mwalimu National Sacco. Teachers were lied to into buying a collapsing entity from the rogue Merali of Sameer Group.
Merali, a known shady businessman in Nairobi, later withdrew about Sh1.7 billion from the bank further denting its ability to stay afloat.
In the financial year ending in December 2020, Spire Bank returned a Ksh.1.3 billion loss, a loss three times wider than Ksh.472 million negative earnings in 2019.
Interest expenses by the bank now topple earnings from lending activities while loan defaults at the financial institution are now equal to the bank’s entire loan book.
Moreover, the bank stares at the wrath of the Central Bank of Kenya (CBK) with its capital and liquidity ratio falling further in breach of regulatory provisions.
The bank has ‘eaten’ into Teachers’ savings.
With acquisition of Spire Bank, the destruction of teachers’ in Kenya is almost complete.