Members of Nandi teachers SACCO will start earning their dividends amid the loss of approximately Sh250 million which has not been recovered since 2007.

KNUT officials in Nandi County urged hundreds of teachers threatening to withdraw their membership from the SACCO that they would start earning dividends at a rate of 1% from this month.

Kenya national Union of Teachers (KNUT) Nandi East branch executive secretary Boniface Tenai and his counterpart from Nandi South Stephen Misoi convinced teachers in Kapsabet that the new management had restored order in the SACCO.

The loss alleged to have been due to mismanagement by the previous officers had seen drastic fall in performance of the financial institution as a significant number of teachers withdrew their membership due to diminished dividends and inaccessible loans.

However, towards the end of last year cooperatives minister Joseph Nyagah saved the situation when he visited the SACCO and assured teachers that the millions lost would be recovered through a legal procedure.

Nyagah urged teachers to be patient since “the lost funds must be recovered.”

He told teachers that some of the suspects had their assets held ready for auction as a measure to recover the money. Misoi and Tenai told teachers during Nandi Teachers SACCO Annual

General Meeting that they would start earning dividends at a rate of 1% with an expected increase as time unfold.

Misoi said “Our SACCO has not recovered the millions lost in the past but we are hopeful since the matter is being handled in court. However, we are glad that the institution can service members with dividends besides providing loans.”

He lauded the SACCO manager Josphat Ruto for bringing positive changes to the financial institution adding that it was a sign that other good prospects were forthcoming.

“We have hope with the new management which began its work in 2008 and we are just requesting teachers to be patient as services are being improved,” he said.

Ruto told the members that it was now possible for them to borrow loans since the institution had “regained its financial capacity to provide all kinds of loans.”