Kwale Trade Revolving Fund Act 2014 - as Plain Text by MWakili

NATIONAL COUNCIL FOR LAWRFPORTING LIBRARY SPECIAL ISSUE Kenya Gazette Supplement No 11 (Kwale County Acts No 2) REPUBLIC OF KENYA KENYA GAZETTE SUPPLEMENT KWALE COUNTY ACTS, 2014 NAIROBI, 26th September, 2014 CONTENT Act Page The Kwale Trade Revolving ^und Act 2014 1 PRINTED AND PUBLISHED BY THE GOVERNMENT PRINTER NAIROBI THE KWALE COUNTY TRADE REVOLVING FUND ACT, 2014 No 2O/2014 Date of Assent 10th September 2014 Date of Commencement By Notice ARRANGEMENT OF SECTIONS Section PART I- PRELIMINARIES 1Short title and Commencement date 2Interpretation 3Objectives PART II-THE FUND AND THE BOARD 4Estabhshment and Administration of the Fund 5 Management of the Fund 6Composition of the Board PART inOPERATIONS OF THE FUND 7Qualifications for apphcants 8Borrowmg himts 9Collateral 10Growth on loan 11Repayment period PART IVFINANCIAL MANAGEMENT 12Sources of funds 13The Fund Account 14Annual Reports 15Audit PART VRESTRICTIONS AND RECOVERY OF LOANS 16Specific purposes of the loan 17Default on repayment 18Recovery of the loan 19Diversion of loan funds PART VI-MISCELLANEOUS 20Conflict resolution 21Regulations 2 No 2 Kwale County Trade Revolving Fund 2014 THE KWALE COUNTY TRADE REVOLVING FUND ACT, 2014 AN ACT of the County Assembly of Kwale for the establishment, management and admmistration of the Kwale County Trade Revolving Fund, and for connected purposes ENACTED by the County Assembly of Kwale, as follows PART I-PRELIMINARIES Short title and Commencement date 1 This Act may be cited as the Kwale County Trade Revolving Fund Act, 2014 and shall come mto operation on such a date as the Kwale County Executive Member for Industry, Trade and Investment in consultation with the County Executive Committee, shall so appoint Interpretation 2 In this Act, unless the context so otherwise requires "Beneficiary" means natural or legal person whose apphcation for a loan has been approved by the Board, "Board" means a body estabhshed under Section 4 and constituted as per Section 6 of this Act, "Constitution" means "the Constitution of Kenya, 2010", "County Executive Committee Member" means an individual holdmg an executive office m the County Government responsible for Industry, Trade and Investment matters or their equivalent, as provided for under Article 179 (2) (b) of the Constitution and Sections 35 and 36 of the County Governments Act, 2012, "County" means the Kwale County, "County Government" means the County Government of Kwale as constituted under the Constitution, "County Chief Officer" means an mdividual m the service of the County Government responsible for Industry, Trade and Investment matters or their equivalent, appointed as per Section 45 of the County Governments Act, 2012, Incubation unit means an office of the County Government charged with the responsibihty of nurturing and growmg businesses in the County, providmg busmess management services to County busmess people and providmg admimstrative services at the County decentrahzed levels with regard to the Trade Revolvmg Fund, Secretary means a person in the service of the County Government and appointed as provided for under this Act 3 2014 Kwale County Trade Revolving Fund No 2 Objectives 3 The object and purpose of the Act is to (a) catalyze wealth creation, (b) estabhsh the Kwale County Trade Revolving Fund Board, (c) estabhsh the mechanisms for the provision of capital to (i) successful candidates engaged m employment- creatmg activities that contribute to value addition of raw materials, (ii) busmesses that seek to expand their production from existing capacities, (in) activities that stimulate and promote both internal and mtemational trade PART n-THE FUND AND THE BOARD Establishment and Administration of the Fund 4 (1) There is hereby established the Kwale County Trade Revolving Fund (2) The Fund shall be admmistered by the Kwale County Government at the County and Sub-County levels (3) At the County level, there shall be a Fund Management Office, under the relevant Duectorate as approved by the County Chief Officer, headed by the Fund Manager who will also be Secretary to the Board (4) In the mterim, the Fund Manager will be the County Trade Development Officer for a period not exceedmg 6 months after the operationalization of the Fund (5) At the Sub-Connty levels, there shall be mcubation units managed by officers appomted by the Kwale County Pubhc Service Board who shall discharge the aduunistrative services of facilitating apphcations to the Fund, training of successful applicants on busmess ethics, credit management and provision of general busmess development and busmess management services inter aha to successful applicants and other busmess persons m the County Management of the fund 5 (1) The Fund will be managed by the Kwale County Trade Revolving Fnnd Board (2) In the mterim, and not exceedmg 6 months from the commencement date of this Act, the Fund shall be managed by a Fund Committee comprising of five members drawn from County offices of 42 Kwale County Trade Revolving Fund 2014 Trade development, Enterprise Development, Social services.

County Treasury and the Economic Advisor to the Governor (3) The members of the interim Fund Committee shaU elect from amongst themselves a Chairperson (4) The officer responsible for Trade Development m the County, or their nommee, shall serve as the Fund Manager durmg the mtenm period (5) Any three of the Interim Fund Committee Members, includmg the Fund Manager can transact busmess at any given time (6) The Committee's mam function, just like the Board, will be to approve loan apphcations and advise on the general performance of the fund and to undertake all acts towards the attainment of the obiects of this Act Composition of the Board 6 (1) The Board shall comprise of seven members drawn from the County Government and the members of the Pubhc (2) The members of the Board shall be (a) four of the members, two from each gender, shall be appomted from the four sub-counties by the CEC member m consultation with stakeholders with one of them designated as the Chauperson, (b) Chief Officer m charge of County Treasury or his/her representative, (c) Chief Officer m charge of Commumty development or his/her representative, (d) Chief Officer m charge of Industry, Trade and Investment or his/her representative, (e) the Fund Manager shall be appomted through a competitive process by the Pubhc Service Board and approved by the County Assembly, and (f) the Chairman of the Board shall be elected by the majority members of the Board durmg the first meetmg of the Board (3) The Chairman shaU retain the decidmg vote (4) The Board shall make its own rules and procedures to guide its operations (5) Quorum for Board meetmgs shall be five Members, including the Secretary to the Board 5 2014 Kwale County Trade Revolving Fund No 2 PART in-OPERATIONS OF THE FUND Qualifications for applicants 7 (1) The Fund shall be available to candidates who are either individuals or legal persons duly registered as business operators within the County and shall compnse of (a) individual traders, (b) busmesses registered as associations, (c) busmesses registered as Cooperative societies, and (d) busmesses registered as Compames (2) The qualifymg candidates shall have an already existmg busmess as a going concern for at least six months (3) The Applicant shall undergo an assessment by Board to ascertain viability of the busmess and pnor to the consideration of the apphcation by Board (4) Beneficiaries shall first undergo busmess trammg courtesy of the County Incubation units on busmess ethics before issuance of loan (5) Loans advanced to beneficiaries shaU not be used for the following unless pnor consent m writing is obtained from the Board- fa) purchase, erection, or repair of any building, (b) purchase of any motor vehicle, and (c) purchase of land Borrowing limits 8 The Board shall advance loans to apphcants as follows (a) mdividual busmess persons can borrow a minimum of KSh 30,000 and a maximum of KSh 1,500,000, (b) legal persons (companies, cooperative societies and associations) can borrow a minimum of KSh 150,000 and a maximum of KSh 3,000,000 Collateral 9 Successful applicants shall be expected to guarantee the loans advanced to them as under (i) For mdividual persons, they shall be required to provide any of the foUowmg as collateral (a) title deed.

6 No 2 Kwale County Trade Revolving Fund 2014 (b) life insurance certificate, (c) share certificate from Central Depository and Settlement Corporation Lumted (CDSC), (d) Retirement Benefit Savings, (e) any other proof of asset ownership other than of a depreciatmg asset Without prejudice to the foregone, an apphcant may provide collateral of a title deed or allotment letter bearmg the names of a third party so long as the third party has given consent for such use m the presence of an Advocate of the &gh Court of Kenya (u) For legal persons, the collateral shall be m the form of any of the following (a) m the case of cooperatives, endorsement by the annual general meetmg that set the borrowmg limits and the assets to be attached coupled with certification by the County Co-operatives Office, (b) m the case of associations, endorsement by the annual general meetmg that authorized guarantee of loans by assets of the association, (c) without prejudice to foregone, members of an association may be guaranteed by fellow members of the same association subject to endorsement by the executive comrmttee of the association, (d) for SACCO's individual member savings for mdividual borrowers and the SACCO reserves for the co-operative may be used as collateral if the Board so approves Growth on loan 10 Every loan shall be made on the terms that it shall attract a growth rate of between 5 to 8 per centum per annum on reducing balance as the Board may, decide m consultation with the Chief Officer, advice from time to time Repayment period 11 Upon approval of loan by the Board, beneficiaries shall (a) enjoy a grace period of three months from date of loan disbursement before commencement of monthly repayments, (b) pay full amount of loan with mterest within 24 months after commencement of payment PART IV-FINANCIAL MANAGEMENT 7 2014 Kwale County Trade Revolving Fund No 2 Sources of funds 12 The Fund shall be funded by monies from (a) annual allocations by Kwale County Government, (b) grants from national government, (c) loan repayments, (d) other grants from development partners TheJFund Account 13 The Board shall mamtam a Fund Account ma reputable commercial bank m Kenya shillmgs and otherwise as shall need anse Annual Reports 14 The Board shall prepare annual reports on management of the Fund within three months after the close of the financial year for consideration by the County Executive Committee for the approval by the County Assembly Audit 15 The accounts of the Fund shall be audited as per the Kwale County and National Government audit procedures PART V-RESTRICTIONS ON AND RECOVERY OF LOANS Specific purpose of the loan 16 Every loan shall be made upon such terms that the application thereof is restricted to the specific purpose to be specified by the Board Default on repayment 17 Non-payment of loans for a period of three consecutive months constitutes a default pumshable by a penalty of 10% mterest on accumulated arrears Recovery of the loan 18 More than six months default will be referred to reputable debt collector(s) by the Board for recovery at the defaulter's cost In addition, the default shall attract 15% mterest on accumulated arrears Diversion of loan funds 19 Beneficiaries who divert funds loaned to them to other activities that do not match with the objectives of the loan applied for shall be blackhsted from further participation m the Fund No 2 Kwale County Trade Revolving Fund 2014 Conflict resolution mechanisms 20 There shall be a dispute resolution body constituted by three Chief Officers in the County Government as nonunated by the County Executive Committee Member and who shall not be Board Members to amicably settle conflicts arismg from the admmistration of this Act Upon failure of this conflict resolution mechanism, the aggrieved party may seek legal redress Regulations 21 The County Executive Committee Member shall make the necessary regulations to operahonalize the Act upon becommg law.