Minister of Industry, Trade and Tourism Joseph Mwanamvekha gave this insight in Blantyre when he officially opened the 7th Africa SACCO Regulatory Framework Roundtable. He said the Malawi Government fully supports the good work SACCOs are doing especially in the provision of affordable financial services to members.
“As government, we support the good work SACCOs are doing especially in the provision of affordable financial services to members. We believe, if well harnessed, SACCOs would revolutionize the African economies,” said Minister of Trade.
Mwanamvekha noted that the three day roundtable is important because it will afford Malawi an opportunity to learn from other countries like Kenya whose SACCOs have transformed their economies.
He further said the role of regulators in the country is to ensure positive improvement in management, adherence to good cooperate governance and existence of risk management practices to bring about improved financial performance. On this, the Minister said there is need for an understanding of the critical roles each player plays in an economy.
“The regulatory framework should not create unnecessary barrier and deter development of SACCOs. It is sad to hear that the regulator is closing a SACCO because it has failed to meet certain standards. We can use regulation to provide capacity building to these SACCOs so that they are able to meet standards. Liquidation must be a very last resort after all efforts to resuscitate it have failed,” added Mwanamvekha pointing out that the One Size Fits All approach to regulation does not favor the small ones.
The Minister also took time to appeal to SACCOs to adopt the use of technology to be productive in their operations.
In his remarks, Chief Executive Officer for ACCOSCA George Ombado said Malawi is on the right track in so far as having a better economy through its SACCOs is concerned.
The theme chosen for the Round Table meeting was Regulation as a Blueprint to Improving SACCO Growth and Competitiveness.
Some of the countries represented at the meeting are Zimbabwe, Zambia, South Africa, Botswana and Ghana.
