As the national government considers revival of some provisions of the Finance Bill 2024 withdrawn two months ago, a sacco official has warned that increased taxes pose a major risk to the financial sector.
President William Ruto on Saturday hinted that his administration is considering reviving the law to raise Sh346 billion.
The President said shortage of funds is hindering implementation of government development plans.
But Unaitas sacco CEO Martin Muhoho said the high cost of living has affected Kenyans’ ability to do business and in turn affected the operations of financial institutions.
“Challenges that face our members also get to us. If members don’t have money in their pockets things get a bit hard,” he said.
He spoke during the commissioning of the sacco’s 33rd branch at Ndunyu Chege town in Gatanga, Murang’a.
Muhoho urged the government to enhance initiatives for low income earners to engage in gainful activities.
He said only a few Kenyans are opening new small enterprises while the existing ones are experiencing slow business.
This has raised the number of people defaulting on loan repayment as they struggle to keep their businesses afloat.
“We are asking our members who are struggling to visit our branches so we can see how to support their businesses or farming activities,” he said.
Muhoho lauded Murang’a and the national governments for implementing projects that empower farmers, including offering subsidies but said more needs to be done to make them self-sustaining.
“We have seen Murang’a county upgrade infrastructure in shopping centres and the national government establish affordable housing but let them consider investing more in mama mboga who drive grassroots economies,” he said.
Further, Muhoho challenged the county government to engage more extension officers to support agribusiness.
The branch is expected to serve a large catchment of tea, coffee, dairy and poultry farmers and make it easy for members to access financial services.
Unaitas sacco, one of the largest in the country, has an asset base of Sh23.6 billion and a loan book of about Sh20 billion.
With over 400,000 members nationally, the sacco has deposits amounting to Sh14 billion with profits of over Sh1 billion annually.
Chairperson Michael Muriithi challenged local youths to take advantage of employment opportunities advertised by the sacco.
"We have over Sh600 million in this new branch to issue loans. Take this money and use it to empower yourself," he said.