An inside story of DKM customers

JoyNews investigation reveals many customers of DKM Micro Finance Company in Sunyani took loans from other banks and deposited the money for 50 per cent return.

Many of them now say they desperately need their principal investment to pay creditors and forgo interest DKM had offered to pay them.

One of the most compelling reasons people invest is the prospect of holding on to one’s fortune for their entire life.

Bottom line, there are only two ways to make money: by working with your assets or having your assets work for you.

Investing money with a bank earns depositors interest which eventually grows their money. Such motive drove residents of Sunyani and other parts of the Bono Ahafo Region to invest with DKM Micro Finance Company.

JoyNews checks indicate the company, in some instances, promised depositors a fifty percent interest on their deposits over two months.

“I have benefited GH2, 500 cedis from the deposit of GH5, 000. I was expecting to get another fifty percent interest for my fees but since then, I have not received anything,” the sentiments of a frustrated tertiary student, Latif Dagama .

Latif has profited from such high interest in the past but like many others, his money is locked up, leaving him stranded.

Latif is unable to report for schools, several weeks after start of the academic year because he had deposited money meant for his fees, in anticipation of a windfall.

It is a plight shared by Alex Antwi, a third- year student at the University of Energy and Natural Resources. He deposited Gh¢30,000 after a friend introduced to the financial services company.

“I was told I will get 55 per cent from the deposited amount so I showed interest and invested,” Alex explains.

Life has been unbearable for the young university students.

“I can’t pay my fees and my wife has also delivered,” Alex emphasizes.

Forty-two year old Vivian Cheremeh sells eggs. Her son just got admission into Senior High School but his fate hangs in the balance as mother chases DKM for Gh¢2,000 she deposited with the company.

“My hope has been dashed and that means my son won’t be able to go school this year,” Vivian concluded.

This isn’t the first time Vivian had her money locked-up. In an earlier instance, she could not recover Gh¢10, 000 from another financial services company in Sunyani.

It is often said, "Money isn't everything, but happiness alone can't keep out the rain."

Whether one’s goal is to send their ward to college or see themselves in comfortable retirement, investment is critical to realizing a dream but certainly not when your money is locked-up for months.

“I have nothing on me at the moment and my life is getting worse every day,” lamented another disappointed customer, 32- year old Elizabeth Afisuah.

Many customers who are bread winners of their families are now under pressure to find a secure way through life.

The pressure becomes even more unbearable if investors will take money from one bank and invest in another, hoping to make big profit.

Subsequent events leave customers in mystery they find difficult to unravel.

From students who cannot go back to school to business men and women in limbo, and cannot honour their obligation to creditors, the unfolding drama continues.

Until a miracle happens, the lives of these stranded and distressed customers remain in the hands of a friend they had banked their hopes on—DKM.

It might just be one of the historic moments in their lives.