By Njodzefe
Nestor in Bamenda
Renaissance
Cooperative Credit Union Cameroon, RECCUCAM, has cleared the air over controversies
about its legal existence.
Cross section of
RECCU-CAM officials at press confab at Ayaba Hotel
Against a recent communiqué from
the Ministry of Finance listing RECCU-CAM amongst 84 credit unions allegedly
operating without the approval of the government, the president of RECCU-CAM,
Anye nee Bih Judith Tabifor, has affirmed that the Union of Cooperatives is
legal and operating in respect of the laws and regulations binding cooperative
societies in the CEMAC sub-region.
Exposing the error in the MINFI communiqué,
Anye Judith said RECCU-CAM is a Union of Accredited Cooperative Societies and
not a cooperative society as the MINFI circular erroneously claimed. She said
RECCU-CAM was duly registered (Registration No. RSC/No NW/UCOOPCA/036/13/008 of
May 30, 2013.) She added that the application for accreditation deposited at
the Ministry of Finance indicated that the union was created to perform the
duties attributed to such institutions according to article 14 of the CEMAC
regulations on Micro-finance institutions.
Anye Judith noted further that
they never saw the purported control team from the Ministry of Finance, adding
that at the time of the said control the institution had neither offices nor
staff to be controlled. She said the Ministry of Finance has acknowledged her
mistake and is preparing an apology.
Mrs. Anye made the
clarifications at a press conference on March 10, 2014 at Ayaba Hotel. She used
the occasion to also update the public on the circumstances which led to the
disaffiliation of some credit unions from the Cameroon Credit Union Leaque,
CamCCUL and which led to the eventual creation of RECCU-CAM.
Addressing prying journalists,
Anye Judith said the decision of the credit unions to disaffiliate from CamCCUL
was purely economic and it was taken individually by the seven credit unions in
their different general meetings. She noted that the decisions to disaffiliate
were in conformity with article 11 of the Uniform Act on Cooperatives, adding
that because they acted within their rights they cannot reconsider their
decision.
Recalling the shortcomings of
CamCCUL which motivated their disaffiliation, the RECCU-CAM president lamented
that against the principles of good governance propagated by COBAC and the
Cameroon government, CamCCUL hierarchy kept extending and manipulating its
mandate, in violation of regulations in force.
She said in 2008 the CamCCUL
Board of Directors extended their mandate from 3 years renewable once to 5
years renewable once and then in 2011 they changed it from 5 years renewable
once to 3 years renewable twice. She observed that CamCCUL is operating in
illegality as its revised Articles of Association have not been approved by the
Department of Cooperatives/and Common Initiative groups of the MINADER up to
this day. She said because of these and other reasons they had to break away
from CanCCUL.
Anye Judith who also doubles as
the president of Azire cooperative credit union, Azziccul, equally decried the
exaggerated engagement of CamCCUL in Fixed Assets, citing the COBAC report of
2011 which revealed that instead of the 100% coverage ratio stipulated for
fsixed assets, CamCCUL managed only 43%.
The reckless investment in fixed
assets she noted is opposed to the institution’s mission of helping Credit
Unions to grant many more Micro Credit Loans to the masses to improve their plight.
The RECCU-CAM president regretted that the circa FCFA 1 billion which CamCCUL
used for a single building with seven floors at the Bamenda Commercial Avenue
could have been more useful in the hands of the local population.
She added that despite the heavy
fees paid to CamCCUL they cannot moderate their expenses in order to break
even, reiterating that they have eroded the capital base of their organisations
to the extent that they now carry a net loss of hundred of millions of FCFA in
their books.
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