The General Manager, National Association of Cooperative Credit Union of the Gambia (NACCUG) Mr. Baboucarr Jeng has said that Credit Union is not a charitable organisation, but a financial cooperative.

This was contained in a statement read on his behalf by Nuha Sanneh during the Banjul International Airport Cooperative Credit Union (BIACCU) 6th Annual General Meeting (AGM) held recently at the old terminal building of the airport.

The theme for the AGM was ‘Strengthening Capacities of BIACCU should be a commitment from members and their organizations’.

According to him, the theme was fitting and relevant, adding that it was in line with the Credit Union’s philosophy of ‘people helping people’.

According to Mr. Jeng, AGM is the member’s forum and should therefore accord members the opportunity to scrutinize reports from the board of directors and other sub-committees. He told the BIACCU members that the NACCUG recognize the pivotal role being played by the BIACCU board and management in embracing and cherishing the fundamental principles of the Credit Union’s operations.

He said trust, democracy, transparency and accountability are the key principles that make a credit union unique.

The Board Chairman of BIACCU, Mr. Baboucarr Fatty, said membership of his union during the year under review grew significantly from 599 to 722.

This increase, Mr. Fatty added, was as a result of his union’s collective efforts in selling its ideas and philosophies to non-members.

Mr. Fatty gave the rundown of the different loan schemes provided to the members during the year under review as follows, building loan D475, 020.00, personal loan D2, 067,000.00 and emergency loan D894, 000.00.  He revealed that the total amount of loan disbursed to members in 2008 stands at D3, 436,020.00.    

At the end of the meeting, delegates elected into office Mr. Ebrima Faal as a board member and Mr. Samba Badgie as a supervisory committee member.

Other speakers include the Assistant Director of Agric-business, Mr. Saikou Danso. The supervisory committee report was delivered by Mrs. Bintou Njie Nyang.