Umwalimu SACCO gets 5bn

The Minister of Education Dr Vincent Biruta has announced that the government has set aside Frw 5bn to Umwalimu SACCO in order to facilitate public teachers’ access to loans. According to Dr Biruta, the money set aside for the Sacco has been increased from Frw 574 million a year because the government wants teachers to develop and uplift their living conditions. The minister also said that the program will last for 10 years, and by then the government will have injected around Frw 30 billion in the finance institution. “We will be alternately putting in Frw 5bn and Frw 1bn as years flow.” Apart from the money put in SACCO, the interested rate for public teachers taking loans from the fund was reduced. “The interest rate was initially 14% , but now we have reduced it to 11% for those who ask for money to invest in profitable businesses, and 13% on non-profitable ones,” Dr Biruta said recently, adding that the new changes take effect immediately. “Even those who had already taken loans and not yet started to pay back will benefit from the reduced interest rates.” About 30,204 out of the 57,000 teachers countrywide have already taken loans from Mwalimu SACCO. “Projecting to five years from now we expect a 21,000 boost from the current numbers, and in 10 years, we should have achieved at least 50,000 teachers who will have got loans from the fund individually or in cooperatives. By then, we’ll have to turn to a self-reliant Mwalimu SACCO, with the government investing nothing,” Dr Biruta said. Focus