Credit Unions Must Be Transparent - Anamuah Mensah

The Vice Chancellor of the University of Education, Winneba Professor Jophus Anamuah Mensah, has called on the Board and management of Credit Unions to make probity and accountability their guiding principles.

This he said would engender the confidence of members in the management and forstall rumours and agitations that could collapse the unions.

In a speech read on his behalf, at the 10th Annual General Meeting of the University of Education Co-operative Credit Union, Professor Anamuah Mensah urged them to be transparent in order to build a strong foundation for the union to "take giant strides".

He noted that the growth of the union had relieved the university administration of constant demands by workers for financial assistance.

Prof Anamuah-Mensah commended the Union for making a total savings of ¢5.5 billion as at June 2006 and granting ¢4.4 billion as loans to its members. he lauded the plan to turn the union into a community bank on the campus.

He urged the union to pursue its objectives and said he looked forward to the day the university administration would borrow from the bank for its development projects.

Mr Emmanuel Oduro Darko, General Manager of the Credit Unions Association (CUA), urged credit unions to network their organisations to make them efficient.

He said CUA had made ¢47 billion available to support distressed credit unions to enable them to improve their finances to render quality service to their members.

Mr Darko announced that a micro finance department and micro savings scheme had been created and that a training centre was being built at Kasoa to provide training for staff, management and board members of the unions.

The general manager urged Ghanaians to manage their finances and income prudently and to cultivate the habit of savings.

Mr C. Y. Mensah, Chairman of the Credit Union, said the union established in 1994 with 28 members now had 1,071 members and announced that it made a net surplus of ¢322.7 million in the 2006 fiscal year.

The chairman said a total of ¢92.5 million had so far been realised from the sale of shares to members while management had decided to spend ¢52.5 million on dividend payments..