Serious hunt for MASLOC defaulters

Defaulters of the Micro Finance and Small Loans Centre (MASLOC) loans will soon be hauled before court to face procedural action, the Chief Executive of the Center, Ms Ansah Djan, has revealed.

According to her, all relevant documents and information that covered the loan beneficiaries are still in possession of the center and would be used to track down those who failed to repay.

“Those who took the loans to acquire taxis would either be prosecuted or lose the vehicles,” Ms Ansah Djan noted.

Where the defaulters are not easily traced, she continued, their guarantors would be traced and held accountable.

Ms Ansah Djan made the disclosure during a town hall meeting when she interacted with the members of the public in Kumasi.

The meeting sought to educate the people about the dos and dons of the scheme and also gave the authorities the opportunity to address pressing matters bothering the minds of the people.

Continuing, she said the monies for loans were not exclusive to any political party in the country, but for every individual hence the need to make sure such monies are not misused.

It would be recalled that the erstwhile New Patriotic Party government established MASLOC in 2004 to manage micro finance schemes introduced under the Ghana Poverty Reduction Strategy (GPRS) II It was aimed at boosting the private sector with adequate credit facilities to small-scale entrepreneurs.

The Poverty Reduction and Economic Growth Agenda was laid out by the immediate past NPP government, with the World Bank providing financial and technical support to enhance the scheme.

Until the politicization of the scheme in 2008, the Micro Credit Fund which started with $ 50m as seed money was making a lot of inroads.

Since the establishment and launch of the scheme about 279,000 micro entrepreneurs have benefited from it, but there have been challenges in the recovery of loans.

Ms Djan announced that there had been some changes in the operations of the centre which she said will go a long way to enhance the operations and relationship with beneficiaries.

The changes, she explained, were the creation of satellite offices to bring the centre closer to the people for easier access, and the introduction of technologies, including e-zwich which will check operational malpractices.

On his part, the Metropolitan Chief Executive of Kumasi, Samuel Sarpong, acknowledged that the private sector was the engine of growth and reiterated government's resolve to assist individuals to improve upon their businesses.

He, therefore, entreated the center to eschew from politicizing the scheme and ensure that beneficiaries repay as soon as possible.