Kenya National Police DT SACCO: 50 Years of Success and Prosperity
Starting off with a membership of 690 in the year 1972, the Kenya National Police DT Sacco has grown tremendously in the last 50 years. Its 50th anniversary this year marks the celebration of milestones achieved over the years and a prosperous future ahead as Corporate Watch Magazine’s Ker Mogallo writes.
The Kenya National Police DT SACCO, which has over the last two years posted a tremendous rise in key growth metrics such as assets portfolio and customer base has embarked on the implementation of the Sacco’s 2020-2024 strategic plan; that highlighted membership as a key thematic area.
This discharge comes in the backdrop of a stellar performance in the year 2021 and a foundation to the 50 years anniversary celebrations. Spearheaded by the Kenya National Police DT SACCO Chief Executive Officer Mr. Solomon Angutsa Atsiaya, the Sacco is currently training the Sacco’s top savers from each of the country’s eight regions on the importance of widening their investments.
The trainings, which have so far brought together top savers regionally have culminated into an award ceremony where participants are awarded certificates followed by endorsement of those who have been trained to be the Sacco’s ambassadors in their respective regions.
“As the SACCO management, we started this programme that picks outstanding savers for an investment training programme. The training appreciates their good work and contribution to the SACCO while also impacting investment knowledge in them. In the end, these regional top savers become the SACCO’s ambassadors and assist us steer our strategic plan on membership growth. So far, we have made great strides and are happy that as we celebrate 50 years of service, we are making a big difference in the lives of thousands of members,” said the Chief Executive Officer.
From a humble beginning in November 1972, the Kenya National Police DT SACCO’s commitment to provide diversified, reliable, accessible and affordable financial products and services to its members is today unrivalled in the industry.
“We have really grown over the years and now boast of over 65,000 members as at December 2021 mostly drawn from Kenya National Police Service and other government ministries. We are however targeting to hit 70,000 plus members as we commemorate our 50th anniversary,” noted the CEO.
Staying true to its mission, the SACCO is focused on creating a source of funds at fair and reasonable rate of interest, to provide an opportunity for each of its members to improve their respective economic and social conditions. Some of the crucial benefits the Kenya National Police DT SACCO members enjoy include: low interest rates on loans from the facility, instant M-Tawi FOSA loans, affordable property with investment co-operative, high annual dividends and interest on deposits as well as loan clearance on behalf of the members among many others.
The society is ISO 9001: 2015 certified based on several key principles, including strong customer focus engaged leadership, a process approach to business practices, and continual improvement. ISO-Certified institutions implement management systems that reflect specific requirements to reinforce these principles in the institutions culture and operations.
The maintenance of this certification continually renews the SACCO’s commitment to members and reaffirms the Society’s vision of empowering members for quality life; its mission to provide competitive financial solutions to members through effective mobilization and management of resources; by embracing its core values.
Futuristic Innovations…
Over the years, the Kenya National Police Service DT SACCO has offered members a wide range of products and services under the BOSA and FOSA categories that include loans with a repayment period of up to 84 months, M-TAWI mobile loans, savings accounts, fixed deposit accounts, visa ATM services, Cheque clearance services among others.
The COVID-19 pandemic brought to the limelight the importance of digitalization and banking on an ICT based infrastructure. The need for cashless and non-physical banking led to the launch of the Pambazuka project which represented the Society’s digital transformation journey geared towards drastically altering the quality of service delivery to its members.
“ICT has proven to be a key enabler of the economy and is no longer viewed as a support to business, but rather a strategic asset for many organizations. At the Kenya National Police DT SACCO, we pride ourselves in the fact that our innovative products are futuristic placing us ahead of our competitors,” noted Mr. Atsiaya.
Through the Pambazuka project, the Society introduced the Mobile Banking Solution dubbed M -TAWI which is available on the Google play store as well as on the USSD platform (*653#). M-TAWI is a robust and revolutionary solution that offers members extensive and flexible self-service capabilities. To activate M-TAWI, members can dial *653# or download the M-TAWI APP from the Google Play Store for android users and APP Store for iOS users and they will be sent an OTP (one-time password) for them to change to their desired password/pin.
With these solutions, the members enjoy mobile money transfers directly from their accounts, make deposits to their FOSA and BOSA accounts from Mpesa, pay utility bills, apply for mobile loans, get statements, and a host of other assorted service requests.
The M-Tawi app, also enables members to track their expenditures through an embedded dash board. The pambazuka project according to the Chief Executive Officer, has also seen an expansion of the ICT infrastructure that has brought about an enhanced system security that is cybercrime proof, an improved turnaround time on transactions and high availability of online services.
These have resulted in boosted operational efficiency that have minimized overheads and created value to members. In the year 2020, the Kenya National Police DT Sacco was crowned the CIO Gold winner award, for the recognition of Excellence in Enterprise Information Technology adoption in the SACCO sector.
Capacity Building…
The SACCO continues to provide competitive financial solutions to its members through effective mobilization and management of resources. It also encourages savings among members by affording them an opportunity for accumulating savings.
According to the Sacco CEO, the Kenya National Police DT SACCO is committed to ensuring safety and soundness of the members, ensures the progress of its members by educating them continuously on financial and investments matters and finally to perform the function and exercise the powers designated for savings and credit co-operative societies under the applicable law for the benefit of the members.
“If you take a look at the Sacco performance report, there is a positive trend where growth has been recorded not only in membership, but in all aspects of the society. Further, over the years members who have gone through our financial and investments training programmes have increased their deposits and investments through the SACCO eventually boosting the SACCO’s credit books and growing the member’s wealth,’ added Mr. Atsiaya.
Awards and CSR…
Just before the disruption of the annual Ushirika day celebrations brought about by the COVID-19 pandemic, the Kenya National Police DT SACCO had in 2019 bagged 1st Position – Best Managed Sacco Countrywide award, 1st Position-Best in Credit Management Countrywide, 1st Position-Best in Credit Management-Employer based SACCOs Tier 1, 1st Position-Best Managed-Employer based Tier 1 and 1st Position Volley-ball – Ushirika games. Previously, the SACCO managed to emerge 3rd best managed SACCO in 2018, 1st best managed SACCO Tier 1 in 2017 and 1st Position Highest Dividend/Interest Rate Government Sector in the year 2016.
The SACCO also emerged the winner in FiRe awards and the overall winner for compliance to the International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS) for 2021 edition, as a result of good governance and training of their members.
The Kenya National Police DT SACCO is widely known for supporting education. Over the years, its main corporate social responsibility has been sponsoring needy bright students through their education programme for deceased members’ children. Currently, the SACCO is supporting 117 learners in various secondary schools in Kenya as well as six students in universities.
In addition to individual sponsorships, the SACCO also recently commissioned and handed over a block of equipped classrooms and a Computer Laboratory at Utumishi Girls Academy in Gilgil.
The handover ceremony was led by the Kenya National Police DT SACCO National Chairman. Mr. David Mategwa, Vice Chairman, Mr. David Kangogo, the Board of Directors and the Management led by the CEO, Mr. Solomon Atsiaya.
Gracing the occasion to officiate the ceremony was the Deputy Inspector General of Police Mr. Edward Mbugua.
Moreover, the Society, during the School’s Patron day fundraised for an additional dormitory at the Girls Academy.
Last year, the National Chairman Mr. David Mategwa and Director Elizabeth Nyagah donated tablets and laptops to students that excelled in their KCSE examinations at the Utumishi Boys Academy. These gadgets are meant to help the recipients further their studies in these digital literacy times.
“We believe in education that is why we take these sponsorships seriously. Through our website, you will find students whose education Kenya National Police DT SACCO is either currently sponsoring or has sponsored in the past because we believe education is the key to success,” said the CEO.
In the health sector, the society constructed and transferred a dispensary to the General Service Unit Recce Company community, a move that will significantly help meet their healthcare needs.
GSU Commandant Mr. Douglas Kanja applauded the SACCO for the great initiative. He urged the graduating recruits to join the Society; further stating that the previous dispensary treated an estimated 36,000 patients in a year. However, the number is likely to go up due to the construction of the state-of-the-art modern facility.
In addition, he lauded the Ruiru Recce Company commanding officer Godhard Kamau for his commitment on the project.
At the onset of the Covid-19 pandemic, the Sacco, through its CSR wing made a vast donation of PPEs and hand sanitizers to police officers who were categorized as frontline workers in all the fourty seven counties.
To promote sports, the Kenya National Police DT SACCO participated in a special ground breaking ceremony on March 15th 2022, to officially introduce a National Police Service stadium structure at the Kenya Police Directorate of Criminal Investigations (DCI) Academy in South C, Nairobi.
The sports complex will feature world-class facilities suitable for football, athletics, hockey, and other sports. Its construction, already underway, is expected to be completed by the end of the year.
