There are genuine police officers who are millionaires, former Inspector general of Police Joseph Boinnet revealed.
Speaking during a meeting of the Kenya Police Sacco in Mombasa, Boinnet who now serves as Tourism and Wildlife CAS, stated that 990 servicemen and women had over one million with the savings scheme.
"The money is from their own pocket. Officers based in different parts of the country dealing with cattle rustling, investigating complex crimes, battling terrorists are saving their pennies with the Sacco for their families," he stated.
A 2019 biometric registration drive showed that Kenya had 101,288 police officers as the Sacco has 61,765 members.
“On average, police officers borrow loans of between Ksh2 million and Ksh3 million. This means our officers are prudent savers and investors. We are being painted with a poor image that is not ours,” He disclosed.
Echoing his sentiments, National Police Service Commission Commission chairman Eliud Kinuthia observed that police officers were among the best savers in the country with the Sacco having an asset base of Ksh35 billion.
“Suspicion over every wealth belonging to police officers is unfounded. There is no way these people work hard and the only area they fail is to work hard for themselves,” he stated.
The Police Sacco was ranked third best in the country emerging 2nd runners up in the 2019 FiRE awards.
The Chairperson of the Sacco David Mategwa attributed the success of the scheme to accountability for the members' funds and the building of trust that had even attracted civilians to join and save with them.
Kenyans both employed in public and private sectors have taken to saving in Saccos.
According to a 2019 report, Mwalimu, Harambee, Stima, Kenya Police and Afya Saccos had accumulated savings and assets worth Ksh149.9 billion as at the end of the 2018 financial year.
With such a wide asset base, this meant that they were among the country's top lenders.
