THE ROUTE K64 SACCO OF KERICHO DISTRICT PLANS TO BECOME A MICRO FINANCE INSTITUTION, NAIROBI, KENYA

THE ROUTE K64 SACCO OF KERICHO DISTRICT PLANS TO BECOME A MICRO FINANCE INSTITUTION, NAIROBI, KENYA

The Route K64 Sacco intends to transform itself in to a micro-finance institution. According to the Sacco members that we interviewed in the last week of the month of October, the year two thousand and eleven, the society’s’ to officials held a meeting in Kapsoit Township, a small town on the outskirts of kericho town.

The sources ,who are very reliable, said that the staff members who met here  were expected to discus on how they could get the all the resources and information ,manpower and how they could get all the assistance to enable the Sacco to transform itself well and smoothly up to its’ every day operations.

The Society is only eight months old but is already trying on big things .The staff member that we talked to told us that the society’s’ total assets plus the total savings and earnings for the period that it has existed amount only up to four million and the Sacco’s senior staff have seen it wise to transform the society in to a microfinance institution as a development move.

We weren’t able to access the proceedings of the meeting .All our efforts to meet some of the members who took part in the meeting or to get in contact with their headquarters weren’t successful but we hope to carry the reports about this meeting in our next issue of this magazine.

The route K64 Sacco is a transport Sacco in Kericho District .The society operates it transport business on the kericho to Eldoret route and back

FOUNTAIN PRIMARY SCHOOL IN KERICHO TOWN OFFICIALLY DECLRED OPEN

FOUNTAIN PRIMARY SCHOOL IN KERICHO TOWN OFFICIALLY DECLRED OPEN




Fountain primary school in kericho town, was declared officially open by the director of education in the ministry of education, Professor George kodia .The school had about four years earlier been enrolling students but it hadn’t been officially declared opened.



The ceremonies were held in the school compound on the eleventh date of the month of October this year .Activity started at eleven o’clock in the morning up to two o’clock in the afternoon.



The guest of honor who to resided over the function was supposed to be the ministry’s’ permanent secretary ,Mr. James Ole Kiyiapi,but due to untold circumstances, he wasn’t able to attend, instead he was represented by his director of education in the same ministry.



The school is among the high class group of schools in the town, Kericho primary school, ACK Primary are just but a few among the group.

LIZ AMPOFO AND SISTER

LIZ AMPOFOS PHOTO OF JOHN AMBULI

SUSPICION OF GRAT IN THE KERICHO MUSLIM SECONDARY SCHOOL.

SUSPICION OF GRAT IN THE KERICHO MUSLIM SECONDARY SCHOOL.

The Muslim Secondary School in Kericho, Kenya, is already being reported with the same news that has faced many other government or public institutions in the country. To make things worse is the fact that it is a religious institution, where you wouldn’t expect reports of graft and the general embezzlement of the public funds.

A member of the staff in the administration of the mosque that is situated at the Kenya co-operative creameries Depot in Kericho town whispered to us that there has not been a clear circumstances on how the school funds are spend .The member said that the school is sponsored by the Islamic world bank but there have been no clear reports on how the aid funds from the bank are spend ,all that he hears about are reports of the expenditure  of the funds but the school assets are moving or growing in any way, they are just where they were on the grand opening day of the school.

This was whispered to us by the mosques Madrasa teacher who has since then been transferred to Kendu Bay  to help with the training of young children in to Islam hood in Kendu bay.

The Madrasa teacher told the education newspaper to ask the entire Muslim community in the country to take action about this suspicion and have the schools ledgers and other documents of accounts scrutinized for any false dealings. The teacher also wanted the Muslim community to have schools administration monitored closely for any unbecoming behaviors and graft. He complaint bitterly on slowly growth speed of the school despite the Funding from the bank and the expected expertise from the schools administration staff.

He also told us to ask the Muslim community in Kericho town to give the unused parts of land that belongs to the religion to the Faithfull’s of the religion in the town so that they can use it for development purposes instead of the land lying there idly like that.

NDEGE CHAI SACCO

NDEGE CHAI SACCO

Ndege chai Sacco has it origins in the James Finlay Company, the giant tea and flower producing company in Kericho. The Sacco was formed before the company changed its’ name from the African Highlands Produce company to what it is called currently .Today, the Sacco is the biggest in the district.

Membership to the Sacco is open to everyone at a fee of only one hundred shillings and those who are intending to join the Sacco shouldn’t be members of any other Sacco’s elsewhere that carry out the same kinds of business and they should carry with them a copy of their ID cards.

There products include Savings accounts which include personal accounts ,medical accounts, holiday accounts, group accounts ,fixed deposit accounts ,retirement savings account, children’s accounts ,Christmas accounts ,joint accounts, and Akiba kuu accounts .All these savings accounts are not charged ledger fees .

They also give out a variety of loans to their members .They include the normal loans that last for a total of forty eight months with an interest rate of 14% p.a ,additional loan that lasts for the same period with the same interest rates ,emergency loan that lasts for twelve months with an interest rate of 14% P.a ,housing shares and investment loan that lasts up to thirty months with an interest of up to 10% pa ,they give their customers a salary advance loan that lasts for only one month with an interest rate of 8% p.a ,they also give their customers a special  advance that has an interest rate of ten percent per  month, and finally ,they have the jipange loan that last for six months with an interest rate of 3% per month with a maximum amount allowed of two hundred thousand shillings and a minimum amount of ten thousand shillings .

All these loans are formulated on a reducing balance and every loanee meets 1.2% the insurance of cost of his or her loan .The normal and additional loans are paid within thirty days, emergency loans within five days from the day of the receipt of the loan forms provided the applications are filled correctly and all relevant documents attached. The |FOSA advances are processed within fifteen to thirty minutes provided that all requirements are fully met.  

The Sacco’s’ services to its’ members include what they call safe custody  where they charge two hundred shillings per annum ,Bankers checks where they retail the co-operative banks’  bankers’ checks at four hundred and forty shillings and society Bankers’ checks at one hundred shillings .They also have a service that they call the company bill. They pay company bill at a fee of only fifty Kenya shillings.

The Sacco is connected to the co-operative bank network of Sacco link ATMs’. Members can access their cash at any co-op bank ATM country wide and any VISA branded ATM or merchant outlets like supermarkets .They also offer M-Pesa services which apart from sending and receiving money through all M-Pesa outlets, the members can also deposit cash to their FOSA Accounts, make loan repayments and savings using the pay bill option of M-PESA. Using the Sacco’s’ business number  637 637 .It is a simple process of indicating your membership number and the account you are depositing to –whether shares ,loans or FOSA and the account is upgraded automatically .

The Sacco also has the SMS alert services for its’ member which give alerts to each credit to the  FOSA accounts .Guarantors of loanees will also get who default will also get alerts immediately a loanee starts defaulting. Balance enquiries are also possible via SMS by simply texting the word ndegechaisacco to 8004.

The Sacco also has M-Banking services for its’ members .The members are able to make withdrawals from their own FOSA accounts to M-pesa anywhere /anytime by simply dialing *245 harsh and follow very simple steps provided.

On shares and deposits, the Sacco’s Members earn dividends on shares and interest on deposits .This is calculated on a pro-rata formula. The members are also eligible to withdraw loan amounts equal to three times their shares and deposits. The Sacco is committed to provide the best services possible to it’s’ members. They pledge that they will always maintain the back office (BOSA) open from 8.30 am to 5.00pm during the week days and 8.30 to 1.00pm on Saturdays. They also pledge to maintain Front Office (FOSA) open from 8.30 am to 4.00pm on weekdays and from 8.30 am to 1.00pm on Saturdays. They pledge to establish customer care counters at which all enquiries will be attended to; and the necessary documents availed. They also intend to offer excellent services with courtesy, respect, honesty, integrity and impartiality when dealing with membership matters .Customers will be served within fifteen minutes of their visits .All the customers concerns and any information provided will be treated with utmost confidentiality including your personal account details.

On complaint re-dressal, all the Sacco’s customers and general public are advised to lodge genuine complaints and suggestions trough the Sacco’s official contact addresses and phone numbers.

In the event of not being able to receive desired service or feedback from ndege chai office staff, customers can directly lodge their complaints with the chief executive officer, either via written mail, e-mail or phone for prompt resolution either in person or through their elected delegates

WHAT’S THE ALTERNATIVE FOR CANNING AS A PUNISHMENT IN SCHOOLS

WHAT’S THE ALTERNATIVE FOR CANNING AS A PUNISHMENT IN SHOOLS

Canning has been the mode of correction of habits and behaviors since the dawn of civilization. It is the obvious solution for punishment whenever a young one makes a mistake in the home and sometimes, it goes beyond the young ones in the home .Even elders in some communities have used it as punishment for wrong doers in those communities.

So, it was the obvious choice as punishment for pupils in schools. There had to be away of instilling discipline in the rogue pupils or for any other mistakes that might have risen among the school populations. Inflicting pain on the pupils’ asses to cause them to keep off those habits and behaviors or to cause them to be more careful so that they didn’t repeat those mistakes again. The fear of the pain caused by then cane on their asses caused the pupils to hold tightly o to the right ways of behavior and habits and methods of life in the schools or for the grown ups in the villagers ,to live according to the ways of life that were laid down by the elders of the community.

So, because of this, canning of pupils has been a method of life in Kenyan institutions of learning for a long time and up to now, despite its’ ban by the government, many teachers still use it and advocate for it strongly as the best way of correcting and steering the young people in to the right directions as expected of them by the elders in the society.

Despite the ban on the use of canning as a punishment for mistakes and general wrong doing in schools, but there has to be an alternative way of correcting or punishing wrongdoers in schools. It is this alternative that many of us do not have and hence ,we let the pupils go uncorrected and one time find out about the out come of not being corrected in their lives later for themselves .For those who are already beyond primary and secondary ,that is those who can decide for themselves ,it is possible to drop  the method ,but what about the young ones in the ECD centers ,from baby class to class three?

Otherwise, Punishment for wrong doing in schools will be dropped all together. For late coming to school and missing the lessons and unexplained absenteeism, it might work yes but there are certain situations that it really wouldn’t work .There are some pupils who go beyond the normal misbehaviors of a pupil in a class or school that will need for disciplinary action to be taken against them .should they be punished in schools by the disciplinary masters or should we take them to court and judge and sentence them like fully mature men and women in the villages?

The method had its’ good side and bad side also .We talked to ECD teachers at Bondeni ECD center in Mombasa Ndogo estate in the Nygacho living areas of Kericho town, Mrs. Beatrice Koech and Madam Grace About the issue and what she said was enough proof that soon the country is going to drop the method as a disciplinary action against wrong doing in the school compounds.

The teachers said that canning the pupils, especially in ECD, made the pupils to hate the teachers so that the was hostility between the two and a hostile environment in the class and school in general .They said that this environment eventually lead to the lose of concentration in class work leading to the poor performance in class of the pupil or even stopping to come to school totally of the pupils .When you think that you are correcting the pupils, they could be seeing things their own way.

The teachers said that canning caused the pupils to develop health complications .Some pupils have been reported to have hypersensitive bodies so that ordinary flogging of the pupils caused very extensive effects on their health. Some of them have been reported with body swelling, fainting and and peeing in their pants, worse of all are the psychological effects.

The teachers also said that the method can’t work for everyone in class .There were those pupils whom canning can work on them but there are other pupils whom canning can harm instead of bringing about the general benefits that are expected for the good of everyone in the class or the entire school  .It leaves them feeling very inferior before the others in class and completely destroyed psychologically .Instead of making those pupils to follow the school rules more closely, they start seeing life in a different way, they start shying away from their teachers and seeing not as their teachers and friends anymore but as monsters who enjoy canning you or harming you and who will cane you on site. The corrections that you might think you are trying to make or the school rules that you might be trying to make then to follow isn’t their mind seven.

These experts of ECD told us that while we are working hard to drop canning as a form of action against bad habits and behaviors in schools, but it is going to be hard to drop it totally.

The question is ,how do we punish wrongdoers in class or in school or do we stop this method of punishment altogether and let the teachers to concentrate of teaching the geography, mathematics ,English and the rest of them and leave out discipline? What’s the alternative or do we ban punishment in class for good?