Former members of a shoddy savings and credit cooperative society identified as "Ufahamu Sacco" are crying out for justice after potentially losing millions of shillings to a well-calculated fraudulent scheme executed by its rogue management.
One of the hundreds of disappointed clients who spoke to us on Friday, 20th May 2022, revealed how they were lured into the Sacco by their former employer Mr David Malago whom they encrusted with deducting their funds and submitting them to the financial institution that promised handsome returns.
But one year and five months later, the former employees who no longer work for Mr Malago have been unsuccessfully trying to access their funds.
When they questioned why they could not withdraw their deposits, top officials led by Chairman Willis Okumu, Treasurer Basha Kuyanda and Secretary Julius Maithya claimed that their employer had not been submitting deposits, and therefore, there were no funds to access.
On the other hand, when they confronted their employer, he insisted to have forwarded the deductions to Ufahamu.
From this point, the long running standstill escalated to a whole new level when, out of nowhere, Mr Malago invited an 'audit' firm to supposedly interrogate the Sacco's books which the investors believe was disguised to waste even more of their precious time.
Once they realized this, the frustrated group decided to pick up the matter with the State Department for Cooperatives where they hoped that Commissioner Geoffrey Njang'ombe would be of help.
Unfortunately, the department did not even attempt to provide a solution.
In fact, when they applied for a special sitting with Mr Njang'ombe, his secretary rudely sent them away.
The defeated members now suspect that the moneyed Sacco bosses might have oiled the wheels of justice into their favour.
They have described is as a cartel eating from the same source and called on relevant authorities like the Sacco Societies Regulatory Authority (SARSA) to swiftly move in and punish the culprits.
In the meantime, the defrauded victims continue to suffer from the terrible pain of losing their hard-earned cash in the current unforgiving economy.
They have also sought help from the National Police Service and the Directorate of Criminal Investigations (DCI) to keenly scrutinize the incident with a view of prosecuting their former employer Mr Malago who knowingly lured them to the botched deal. "Hi, Nyakundi, Please, would you mind highlighting this? There is this Sacco called Ufahamu Sacco Society. Its management has defrauded us, members of our money, me being one of them. We have tried everything to no avail. Ufahamu was brought by our employer, who is Mr. David Malago. We registered and he started to deduct our deposits that would later be sent to the Sacco. Actually, I would say the leadership that was in place swindled our money. This is because as I am speaking right now, it's now a year and five months since I resigned but I haven't gotten my deposits back. I am not alone. We are almost 100 plus people, the scam runs to millions of money, we have tried all means to get our deposits back but to no success. We have gone up to the County Director of Cooperatives but looks like they are of the same cartel. I say so because, they know about our issues, but there's nothing they have done. Now, the thing is, here is the story. There seems to be a cartel. When we face the Sacco to demand our money, they keep saying that our employer didn't send the deposits after deducting. On the other hand, when we face our employer, he says he sent the deductions to the Sacco. So early last year the employer brought an 'audit' firm to interrogate our Sacco's books which I believe was just in disguise. They took us in circles for a whole year while the auditor is conducting an audit. Surely, even if we are fools, where on earth does an audit firm undertake the exercise for a whole year? We never knew it was just a trick to keep taking us in circles. Nothing came forward that's why we decided to go to the State Department of Co-operatives for help, but looks like we were just doing nothing. We have gone further to request a special meeting but nobody is responding, which looks like its a cartel eating from the same source. From our employer, to the sacco society, to the Department of Cooperatives. From Sacco officials starting with chairman; Willis Okumu, Treasurer Basha Kuyanda, and Secretary Julius Maithya, plus our employer Mr. David Malago of Insight Management - an outsourcing company. Bersha Guyanda : Ufahamu Sacco Group Treasurer Dennis Muoki: Credit Officer at Ufahamu Sacco People resigned but getting their deposits back has been hell. Now everything is just silent like that. Nobody is talking about it. We fear our money might get lost or is probably already lost," the source writes.