Afya Sacco Society has confirmed it has written off Sh361 million lost through investments in the embattled Kenya Union of Savings and Credit Co-operatives (KUSCCO), as part of its end-of-year financial review.
The loss, which appears under the “receivables” section of Afya Sacco’s 2024 annual financial report, represents a significant financial hit.
The Sh361,625,466 write-off was directly tied to investments made through KUSCCO, which has been at the center of a multi-billion-shilling scandal involving numerous cooperative societies nationwide.
The financial strain from the KUSCCO fallout contributed to a rise in Afya Sacco’s total expenses for 2024, which jumped to Sh1.35 billion from Sh1.17 billion in 2023.
The KUSCCO saga marked by mismanagement and opaque investment deals has triggered financial tremors across the cooperative sector, with many SACCOs losing millions in member savings.
Afya Sacco now emerges as one of the most impacted, forced to absorb one of the largest single write-offs to date.
Nevertheless, the SACCO managed to stay financially afloat, recording Sh1.51 billion in net interest and operating income, a marginal increase from the Sh1.37 billion reported in 2023.
However, loan and advance income suffered a steep decline, falling from Sh2.3 billion in 2023 to Sh1.6 billion in 2024.
Cost-cutting efforts were visible in the
report. Personnel expenses were contained at Sh511 million, while administrative expenses stood at Sh139 million.
Spending on governance and marketing dropped significantly governance costs shrank from Sh225 million to Sh150 million, and marketing expenditures were slashed from Sh50 million to Sh13 million.
The move to write off the KUSCCO-linked funds signals a broader reckoning in the SACCO industry, which continues to grapple with the aftermath of the scandal. It also highlights growing concerns over the oversight and investment decisions made by cooperative apex bodies.
In a bid to restore public trust and financial order, the government has stepped in.
Co-operatives and MSMEs Development CS Wycliffe Oparanya recently unveiled a committee of experts to lead reforms at KUSCCO and coordinate efforts to recover lost assets, signaling a renewed commitment to protecting SACCO members and stabilizing the cooperative sector.
