The speaker of Parliament Anet Anita Among has urged members of parliament to embrace the saving culture in order to have access to cheaper credit and get rid of city loan sharks (money lenders). This was during the Annual General Meeting of the Uganda Parliamentary Sacco Where it was decided to stop lending money to former MPs who no longer deposit savings.
The SACCO is choking on bad debts as former members of parliament struggle to clear their loan obligations.
During the General Assembly of the Uganda Parliament Sacco, the increased number of bad debts came out loudly as sitting and former members of parliament defaulted on their loan obligations.
The SACCO Chairperson Robert Migadde Ndugwa (MP Buvuma Islands) explained they have had to battle in courts with some MPs to recover Sacco money, a toll order.
The General assembly thus decided not to lend to former parliament members who don’t have savings in the SACCO, the second biggest in the country. It was found out that defaulting by former MPs has increased as many don’t have a stable income to pay back their loans.
Migadde explained that former MPs have been getting loans provided they get three guarantors from sitting MPs but many have defaulted. Money recovered from sitting MPs frustrates sitting legislators to stop guaranteeing their colleagues.
This was welcomed by some legislators who gave testimonies of how their colleagues landed them in trouble when they guaranteed them to secure credit from the Uganda parliamentary Sacco.
However, the decision was not welcomed by some former MPs wondering why the SACCO does not consider their sureties like land titles and give them loans instead of pushing them to loan sharks. However, the SACCO management expressed fears of fake land titles, saying they have been victims before.
The speaker of parliament Anita Among who graced the general meeting encouraged legislators to embrace the SACCO and promote the saving culture as the only way to access cheaper credit b that will save them from loan sharks.
The Uganda Parliamentary Sacco has a membership of over 1300 including Current MPs, Former MPs, Parliament Staff, and Former Parliament Staff, the SACCO made net profits of 480m this year.
