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The Registrar of cooperatives in the Ministry of Trade, Industry,

and Cooperatives has warned commercial banks in which Uganda Cooperative Alliance(UCA) has accounts, to take extra effort to authenticate any documents pertaining change of account signatories, noting that any such changes must be accompanied by a resolution certified by his office.

In a letter dated 15th November 2019 addressed to the Managing Director ABSA (formerly Barclays Bank), the registrar Joseph William Kitandwe noted that his office had learned that some officials from UCA were “Attempting to change signatories to the Institution’s Bank Account(s) without certified resolutions from the Office of the Registrar of Cooperatives in the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Cooperatives,” noting that “pursuant to section (44) of the Cooperative Societies Act cap 112, all registered societies, Uganda Cooperative Alliance inclusive, are required to certify resolutions pertaining bank accounts.”

Background

The development follows a move by UCA’s board of directors to suspend the Institution’s finance manager and attempt to replace him as a signatory on all UCA’s bank accounts before the board resolution was certified by the Registrar of cooperatives as demanded by the law.

Sources at UCA told theCooperator that on the day the resolution suspending the finance manager was passed on November 11th 2019, UCA General Secretary Ivan Asiimwe submitted a copy of the same to the office of the registrar for certification, but the registrar instead wrote back to the Chairperson of the UCA Board seeking to understand the reasons for the Finance Manager’s suspension.

In the letter, a copy of which theCooperator has seen, the Registrar also inquired whether the board had been guided by UCA’s Human Resource manual as required by law, so as to avoid unnecessary court petitions against UCA in future.

But before the Chairperson of the UCA board could respond to the registrar’s letter, the General Secretary Asiimwe on Wednesday 13th November moved to register the yet-to-be certified resolution with the Uganda Registration Services Bureau(URSB), in a move seemingly designed to side-step the requirement for the Registrar’s certification and validate the document’s use in official UCA transactions.

UCA owns accounts in Stanbic Bank, ABSA Bank, Bank of Africa and Housing Finance Bank. In one such letter to Stanbic Bank seen by theCooperator, Asiimwe wrote to the manager of the bank’s Forest Mall branch, introducing Isabirye Richard Katairo, previously serving as UCA’s accountant, as the new signatory on the Institution’s account alongside himself, and attached the now registered board resolution as the document authorizing the change.

But in an interview with theCooperator, Tonny Tumukunde, a registrar at URSB argued that UCA’s document registration is just a normal procedure under the Registration of Documents Act 1922, and does not cure any defect in the given document or confer upon it validity that it otherwise did not have beyond what is provided for in the Act.

A law don who spoke to theCooperator on condition of anonymity agreed with Tumukunde, arguing that the 1992 Cooperatives Act is the principal law on all cooperatives’ matters and that the mere registration of a document under the Documents Act is inconsequential and confers no legality or validity to it.

When contacted for a comment, an official in the registrar’s office who declined to be identified to be able to speak candidly on the matter argued that Asiimwe’s attempt to utilize a document not certified by the registrar to transact official business of UCA just adds to the several cases of impropriety that the department has already registered with the police in relation to the General Secretary.

Section 80(1) of the Cooperatives Act 1992 stipulates that “It shall be an offense under this Act if a registered society or an officer or member of a registered society knowingly performs any act which requires the consent or approval of the registrar without having first obtained such consent or approval.”

Asiimwe and the Board Chairperson Johnas Tweyambe claimed to be in meetings when contacted for comments on the matter, and both were still unable to comment by press time.

The two themselves only remain in office by court order, having been asked to step aside by the Registrar on 24th October 2019, to pave way for smooth investigations into allegations of fraud, financial impropriety and abuse of office that have rocked the Cooperatives body for the most part of this year. But on 28th October 2019, they secured a High Court injunction halting the execution of the registrar’s directive, until the hearing of their main petition

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The Co-operative Bank Group on Friday, November 15, reported a pre-tax profit of Ksh15.45 billion for the third quarter of 2019.

This was a significant improvement compared to Ksh14.64 billion recorded in the same quarter of 2018, a strong 6% growth despite the backdrop of what the bank describes as a challenging economic environment in the period.

Profit after tax was Ksh10.9 billion compared to Ksh10.3 billion in the same period, the previous year.

“The Group continues to leverage on the benefits of the “Soaring Eagle” Transformation Agenda that has re-tooled and equipped the business with added competitive edge as reflected in the sustained growth in market share across all market segments and Counties,” a statement signed by Group managing director and CEO, Gideon Muriuki, read.

It has also progressively deepened its celebrated financial inclusion model rooted in the over 15 million-member co-operative movement, that is the face of Kenya.

“The Group has continued with a strategy for continued deepening and dominance in our domain market segment leveraging on our successful penetration of the Micro, Medium and Small Enterprises and the Saccos, while reviewing opportunities to grow alternative income streams from other services like Bancassurance, and leasing business being done through Co-op Bank Fleet Africa Leasing Ltd, a strategic joint venture with Super Group of South Africa,” the statement further reads.

Some of the group’s key financial highlights included:

1. Profit and Loss

• Total operating income grew by 9 per cent from Kshs 32.3 billion to Ksh 35.2 billion.
• Total non-interest income increased by 33 per cent from Kshs 10.6 billion to Ksh 14.1 billion.
• Interest income from government securities increased by 18 per cent from Ksh 6.9 billion to Ksh 8.2 billion.
• Total operating expenses grew by 11 per cent from Ksh 17.8 billion to Ksh 17.8 billion on account higher loan loss provision.

Balance sheet

• Total assets grew by Ksh 36.6 billion (+9 per cent) to Ksh 440.8 billion compared to Ksh 404.2 Billion in the same period last year.
• Net loans and advances book grew by Ksh 14.7 billion (+6 per cent) from Ksh254.2 to Ksh 268.9 billion.
• Investment in Government securities grew by Ksh11.4 billion (+13.7 per cent) to Kshs. 94.6 billion compared to Kshs. 83.2 billion in first three quarters of 2018.
• Customer deposits grew by 9 per cent from Ksh 296 billion to Ksh 322.5billion
• Borrowed funds from development partners grew by Ksh 3.7 billion (+14 per cent) to Kshs 29.7 billion from Ksh26 billion in the previous year.
• Shareholders’ funds grew from Ksh 70.9 billion to Ksh 73.9 billion.
• The bank closed the quarter on a sound capital base, with adjusted total capital against total risk-weighted assets standing at 15.8 per cent, which is 1.3 per cent above the statutory minimum of 14.5 per cent.

1. Innovative Customer Delivery Platforms

• Through our multi-channel strategy, the Bank has successfully moved 89 per cent of all customer transactions to alternative delivery channels that include mobile banking, an expanded 24-hour contact centre, 586 ATMs, internet banking and over 16,000 Co-op Kwa Jirani banking agents.
• A successful Universal Banking model and the implementation of SalesForce Effectiveness has seen the Group serve 8.7 million Account-holders across all sectors.
• Key focus on digital banking, with the all-telco Mco-op Cash Mobile Wallet continuing to play a pivotal role in the growth of non-funded income with over 4.7 Million customers registered and loans worth over Kshs 27.6 billion disbursed as at the close of quarter three 2019.
• Over 56,800 customers have taken up the rolled out MSME packages that we launched in 2018 and 4000 have been trained on business management and planning. We have earmarked Kshs 15.2 billion for MSME lending and to date, we have disbursed Kshs 5.4 billion under the program.
• Our unique model of retail banking services through Sacco FOSAs enabled us to provide wholesale financial services to over 464 FOSA outlets and issue over 1 millionSacco-Link cards.

READ ALSO : Former BoU chief Bagyenda given 24 hours to explain Coop Bank closure

Rwanda’s Cooperative Bank For 2020

1. Subsidiaries

• Co-operative Bank of South Sudan that is a unique Joint Venture (JV) partnership with Government of South Sudan (Co-op Bank 51 per cent and GOSS 49 per cent) made a Profit before tax of Ksh 174.7 Million in Q3 2019.
• Co-op Consultancy & Insurance Agency contributed Ksh 511.1 million as at 30th September 2019.
• Co-op Trust Investment Services has aggressively grown the funds under management to almostKsh 100 billion.

1. Corporate Social Responsibility Programs

Co-op Bank Foundation has provided Scholarships to gifted but needy students from all regions of Kenya. The sponsorship includes; fully-paid secondary education, full fees for University education, Internships and career openings for beneficiaries. The foundation is fully-funded by the bank and has so far supported 7,032 students since the inception of the program. (Source / Kenyan.co. ke

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