Enhancing Savings and Credit Products for Financial Welfare of Kenya Defence Forces Personnel: Opportunities and Prospects
Authors: Nehemia Kemei Brigadier , Charles Imbiakha Colonel (Dr) , Sitawa Dr Michael 
Published: August 2024

This study delves into a critical issue concerning the efficacy of defence savings and credit programs in bolstering the welfare of Kenya Defence Forces (KDF) personnel. In a landscape where financial security plays a pivotal role in the overall well-being of military members, understanding the nuances of these programs becomes imperative. With this backdrop, the research objectives were crafted to not only gauge personnel attitudes and opinions regarding existing financial programs but also to pinpoint areas for enhancement and provide actionable recommendations for their improvement. To systematically address these objectives, a descriptive survey research design was adopted. This design is valuable for understanding the current state or prevalence of certain variables within a population. This approach, therefore, was chosen for its aptitude in capturing insights into personnel perceptions and experiences. By leveraging structured questionnaires as the primary data collection tool, the study aimed to elicit comprehensive feedback from Sacco members serving in the KDF. These questionnaires were designed to probe into key aspects of defence savings and credit programs, including institutional set up, core challenges, and overall proposals to improve effectiveness. Determining the sample size is a crucial step in ensuring the study’s validity and reliability. In this case, simple random sampling was employed, with 110 members selected from Sacco members in Nairobi. This methodological choice, guided by Mugenda and Mugenda’s (2012) under the probability sampling designs, aimed to provide each member an equal chance of participation, thus enhancing the representativeness of the sample. Additionally, the use of structured questionnaires facilitated the collection of standardized data, minimizing bias and ensuring consistency across respondents. Utilizing computer software such as SPSS, the study scrutinized the respondents to extract meaningful insights. The study reveals several key findings regarding the Defence savings and credit programs. Inadequate financial literacy emerged as the most significant challenge, affecting 43.2% of participants, highlighting the urgent need for enhanced financial education. Deployment and accessibility issues, credit risk, and the high transition rate of members also emerged as notable challenges. These factors contribute to decreased job satisfaction (42.1%), lowered morale (36.8%), and a negative impact on welfare (31.6%). To address these issues, there is strong support for improving financial literacy programs (68.4%), diversifying savings and credit products (60.0%), and increasing collaboration with external institutions (55.8%) and personalized financial counseling (57.9%). Despite the generally affordable and competitive financial products available (86.3%), there are areas for improvement in communication (72.6%) and ensuring fair returns on investments, which could enhance overall personnel satisfaction and financial stability. To improve the effectiveness of defense savings and credit programs, the following recommendations are made: enhance financial literacy through workshops and counseling, diversify savings and credit products to meet varied needs, collaborate with external financial institutions for additional resources, improve communication about available services, and ensure competitive returns on investments to boost personnel morale and satisfaction.