By Sadique Bamwita
Entebbe
The government through it’s Ministry for Trade, Industry and Cooperatives, has tasked the newly appointed Board of Directors of Walimu teachers’ SACCO, to work tirelessly to revive dormant teachers’ Saccos across the country. The board members are also supposed to expeditiously recover more than Shs.11 billion in defaulted loans.
While inaugurating the Board of Directors for Walimu teachers SACCO in Kampala, Robert Bariyo Barigye, the Commissioner for Cooperatives, Policy and Development at the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Cooperatives, gave the new board of directors up to March 31,2027, to recover at least 80 percent of the outstanding loan portfolio as part of broader efforts to restore confidence in the teachers’ cooperative movement.
He said so far his ministry has injected Shs.27 billion into Walimu Teachers Sacco, but unfortunately Shs.11 billion has not been recovered from the SACCO borrowers.
On this note, he said his ministry is now demanding greater accountability in the management of the teachers’ Saccos across the country.
He added that the Shs.11 billion loan default by the teachers has greatly undermined and weakened the institution’s ability to serve its members and promote financial inclusion.
Given the huge loan default, Barigye called on the new board members to swiftly work on improving governance and recovering the outstanding funds.
“You should strengthen supervision, improve governance, on top of ensuring recovery of the outstanding funds lost through poorly managed Sacco lending,” Bariyo Barigye stated.
He expressed dismay on the laziness exhibited by most of the teachers’ Saccos across the country, revealing that only 39 out of the 385 registered teachers’ Saccos are currently active.
However, he says to address this saga , there is need for strong monitoring and better leadership within the cooperative movement.
In his maiden massage upon being inaugurated as Board Chairperson, Steven Olinga, accepted the responsibility entrusted to the board and pledged to restore confidence in the institution.
“We accept this challenge with full commitment. Our priority will be to restore trust among teachers, revive dormant Saccos, and ensure that public funds injected into the sector deliver value to members,” Olinga pledged to fullfil the task of recovering the loan default.
The Walimu Sacco General Manager, Caroline Atai is very optimistic that the new board members will deliver measurable results by strengthening governance and improving operational efficiency.
“We expect the board to restore the Sacco’s credibility by reviving inactive societies, strengthening technology-driven financial systems, and putting in place robust measures that will minimise future loan defaults,”Atai expressed hopefulness.
Meanwhile, the recovery of defaulted loans and the revival of dormant Saccos are regarded as critical steps towards rebuilding Uganda’s teachers’ cooperative movement, which has been affected by governance challenges and poor loan repayment culture.
Government officials believe that the performance of the new board members will be measured not only by the amount of money recovered but also by the number of dormant Saccos revived and improvements in service delivery to teachers across the country.
