Kenya National Police DT Sacco members have withdrawn unknown amounts of money from their accounts beyond their available balances following a system hitch.
The hitch, which has since been sorted, occurred Thursday evening, leading to 1,227 members overdrawing their transactional accounts using the digital banking platform called M-Tawi.
The sacco has reached out to the members who overdrew their accounts to return the money.
“Dear [name withheld], yesterday evening M-Tawi experienced a technical challenge that affected the system checking of balances before withdrawals. Consequently, a total of 1,227 members overdrew their Fosa accounts and are thereby requested by the Board to refund the monies without fail to avoid any necessary action as may be deemed fit,” said the sacco in a Friday morning message to its members.
Saccos’ Front Office Service Activity accounts, abbreviated as Fosa accounts, are transactional accounts that offer banking services like those offered by commercial banks. The account is used for receiving dividends and rebates as well as for receiving salaries.
Kenya Police Sacco chairman David Mategwa said in a phone interview with this publication, that the problem arose as the sacco was carrying out a system update. He did not disclose how much money was overdrawn, even as he refuted claims of hacking.
He explained that deposits and share capital were not affected. Mr Mategwa said members who will not return the overdrawn money will see part of their deposits utilised to recover the amount.
“The hitch allowed members to withdraw money beyond what was on their Fosa accounts. We have informed all of them and many are sending back the money. For those who will not, we will know how to recover,” said Mr Mategwa.
“We have narrowed down to those who overdrawn and so there is no cause for alarm. For those who will not, we can utilise their savings to cover this.”
Saccos’ withdrawable deposits are accessed by members at any time, through channels such as teller withdrawal transactions, mobile money withdrawals, ATM platforms or internet, depending on the capabilities of each Sacco.
Members are allowed to withdraw a portion or all of these deposits at any time and at will, without losing membership.
Kenya Police Sacco is one of the largest in the country and held Sh3.2 billion withdrawable deposits at the end of December 2023, while non-withdrawable deposits stood at Sh28.5 billion.
The sacco paid a dividend of 17 percent on share capital, amounting to Sh599.04 million while interest on deposit was at 11 percent, totaling Sh2.98 billion in the financial year ended December 2023.
Sacco Societies Regulatory Authority ranked Kenya Police Sacco as the third largest in the country on asset base as at the end of 2022 when Mwalimu National Sacco and Stima Sacco ranked first and second respectively.
