The ROKEA story

Ten years. One institution. Every coin counted.

How a table-banking circle of Thika traders became a registered, audited co-operative.

2015 · where it started

A table, a book, and traders who trusted each other

In 2015, Maina and a group of Thika traders started a welfare and table-banking group: savings recorded by hand, loans advanced from the table, every member known by name.

It worked. But the founders kept meeting the same wall: established SACCOs demanded entry thresholds many small traders could not reach. So at the group’s meeting in Shanzu, Mombasa, in November 2022, sixteen members passed a resolution: build a SACCO of their own: one with a door low enough for every trader to walk through.

Maina addressing members at the ROKEA Sacco inauguration general meeting, Thika CBD — The inauguration general meeting, Commercial Street, Thika CBD. Maina addressing founder members.

The journey

From a resolution to a registration number

2015A welfare and table-banking group forms among Thika traders.
November 2022Sixteen members resolve at Shanzu, Mombasa, to transform the group into a fully-fledged SACCO, with a five-year strategic plan.
16 December 2025ROKEA Savings & Credit Co-operative Society Ltd is officially registered as registration number CS/31397, by the Commissioner for Co-operative Development.
18 January 2026Members elect the first Board of Management in a process presided over by the Thika Sub-County Director of Co-operatives. Maina is elected first Chairperson.
13 June 2026The 2nd Annual General Meeting, Thika Technical Training Institute: audited accounts presented to members.

97 members against a first-year target of 50: 194% of target.

Audited. Independent external auditors review the books: accountability is a system, not a promise.

Digital. A core banking system, mobile access and a head office on Kwame Nkrumah Street, Thika CBD.

“Every Coin Counts · Save Smart, Live Better.” The slogan members chose, and the culture the institution runs on.

Maina presenting the chairman’s report at the ROKEA Sacco 2nd AGM, June 2026 — Presenting the chairman’s report, 2nd AGM, 13 June 2026.

Why this matters for Township Ward

Anyone can promise. Building an institution patiently, legally and audibly is the hardest proof of leadership there is.

A ward is run the same way a SACCO is run well: a plan members agreed to, money that moves only on the record, accounts an auditor can check, and leadership that answers to the people who own the institution, not the other way round.

That is the whole campaign: a ward you can check, not a ward you have to trust.

See the plan

ROKEA Sacco is an independent, politically neutral co-operative and does not endorse any candidate. This campaign makes no use of ROKEA members’ information, publishes none of its internal records, and keeps its own colours. Facts on this page are drawn from reports presented publicly to members.