Musa Shey Nfor, President of the Cameroon Cooperative Credit Union League, called on the government to ease Tax Law on credit unions.

He made the call during celebrations marking the 2015 Credit Union Day in the Fako chapter in Limbe, on Saturday, November 14.

He condemned the continued classification of credit unions and commercial banks in the country under the same tax regime and petitioned the government to reconsider the policy by tabling a bill in parliament during this finance session to address the issue.

“Government should be able to put in place a tax policy which recognizes the fact that these credit unions are mostly in the rural areas. You will understand that the World Bank statistics showed that the 'bankerisation' rate in Cameroon is less than 15%, that means that about 85% of the population is handled through the microfinance sector, in particular, the credit unions,” he advocated.

“If you go to Fotokol, if you go to Mora you are not going to find a bank, if you go to Missellele you can only get credit unions, therefore we think that in the 2016 Finance Law government should be able to recognize the penetrating efforts of this kind of structures and make a special security and adaptable tax system possible for them,” he continued.

Speaking earlier, Zang III, SDO for Fako praised the efforts of CamCCUL in alleviating poverty, especially in the rural milieu. He encouraged those not yet in the movement to hurry and join before it’s too late.

Activities in Fako Chapter of the movement took place at the Limbe Community Field. Outstanding credit unions like the Victoria Customs, Limbe Urban Council and Sonel Workers cooperative credit unions received awards and certificates of recognition for best practices.

The Limbe Urban and Penda Mboko credit unions received the award of the fastest growing in the Fako Chapter while Buea P & T and Buea Police were awarded prizes for innovation and use of modern ICTs to facilitate their transactions and operations.

The event was characterised by a march pass of all the cooperative credit unions that make up the Fako Chapter. The celebration of the 2015 World Credit Union Day was decentralized and activities organized at the various chapter levels.

This year’s celebration was observed under the theme “People Helping People”. Chapter activities towards the day were launched in Bamenda on October 17, 2015, and are expected to go through all the chapters that make up the network.

CamCCUL's network currently span the 10 regions of the country and boast of 228 credit unions with a share and saving capital of over 167 billion FCFA and employs some 1800 Cameroonians.