Members at the AGM follow proceedings by going through the Annual Report
CHARLESTOWN NEVIS -- President of the Nevis Co-operative Credit Union (NCCU), Steadroy Pemberton, has made a passionate appeal to the society’s over 4,000 members to save more with the Credit Union as the trend last year showed that they borrowed more than they saved. This forced the society to look for alternative funds to finance the shortfall.
Speaking at the society’s 35th Annual General Meeting held Monday evening at the Methodist Church Conference Centre in Charlestown, the president however assured the members gathered that “The society recorded growth in the major areas of its business, in spite of the challenges encountered in meeting the financing needs of its members.”
According to Pemberton, the Nevis Co-operative Credit Union completed another profitable year of operation in 2007. With members saving less than what they sought to borrow, the Board implemented various strategies aimed at raising additional funds to satisfy the high demand for mortgage loans.
He commented that the high cost of funds available rendered the outcome to the Board’s initiatives unproductive, which placed pressure on the society’s cash resources, the evidence of which was a slight decrease in the end-of-year balances. To counter such a scenario in the future, he called for more savings.
Members of staff take the Oath of Office and Secrecy. General Manager, Sydney Newton, is third from left. Her Worship Yasmine Clarke is standing on extreme right facing them
“Our people are in a very opportune economic climate,” said the president. “Most of us are working. It means that most of us have an income. We want to sell the notion that out of that income, the minimum that we save at the end of the weekly, fortnightly or monthly working period should be 20%. Put aside that bit. We are not saying that is the most you should save. We are saying that should be the least that you should save.”
He also lamented on the low of attendance at the AGM by the members, because important decisions are always arrived at during this all important meeting and are passed by just a fraction of the membership. He gave the example of the contribution of one dollar per month towards the Disaster Relief Assistance Programme which was passed at the 34th AGM last year that left a number of people complaining that monies had been deducted from their accounts with a sinister motive.
The Board, through its treasurer, Vernel Powell, recommended and declared a five per dividend on shares, which was the maximum allowed under the Co-operative Societies Laws of St. Kitts and Nevis. The recommendation was accepted by the membership.
~~Adz:Left~~For the first time in the history of the Nevis Co-operative Credit Union, the Oath of Office and Secrecy was administered by Charlestown District ‘C’ Magistrate Her Worship Yasmine Clarke to Board members and staff during the AGM.
Nevis Co-operative Credit Union came in for high praise from the Caribbean Confederation of Credit Unions (CCCU) which was represented at the meeting by its Senior Accounting Officer Icilma Jeffers who pointed out that “to have achieved this milestone with the many successes and achievements along the way is no mean feat.”
She singled out success and achievement areas such as staff development, social programmes, and social special projects, and commented that CCCU had noted with great interest, the emphasis that the NCCU has placed on institutional strengthening in the areas of human resources, staff personnel, staff training and development, committees and members training during the year 2007.
“It is our belief that this emphasis will continue to allow the Nevis Co-operative Credit Union to stay abreast of the developments in best practices and technology thus continuing to meet the needs of all its members and upholding the theme, Credit Union Education: The Key to Sustainable Development,” noted Jeffers.
During the meeting, the Nevis Division of the St. Kitts Nevis Fire and Rescue Services, which was represented by Fire Sub Station Officer (SSO) in charge of the division, Clarence Hendrickson, received commendation from the Board through one of the Directors, Charles Bussue, for the role it played in putting out a fire at the Credit Union building on August 6th last year. They also received a momentary gift of an undisclosed amount.
In thanking the NCCU, SSO Hendrickson said: “We assure you that we treasure this. The monetary donation that has been given will go forward to our public awareness programme where every year in July we take kids from each of the primary schools for a safety and fire awareness programme. Since we started that programme, there has been a significant decrease in careless house fires with children playing with matches and stuff like that. So we assure you that we will put this money into that use to continue our programme.”
