Most beneficiaries of MASLOC loans, she observed, fail to repay the loans advanced to them, thereby impeding the sustainability of the programme.
Hajia Abibata Shanni Mahama Zakaria is therefore calling for effective mechanisms to recover monies given to people under the programme, going forward, to ensure that many more qualified Ghanaians also benefit from the loans.
She was speaking in Techiman last Monday when she paid a courtesy call on the Bono East Regional Minister, Kwasi Adu-Gyan, as part of her visit to the area.
Objectives
To give practical meaning to the poverty reduction agenda, the New Patriotic Party led-government, under the leadership of President Kufuor, launched the Microfinance and Small Loans Centre (MASLOC) in 2006.
MASLOC provides micro and small loans for start-ups and small businesses with fast, easy and accessible microcredit and small loans to grow.
The objective of MASLOC is to provide, manage and regulate, on a fiduciary basis, approved funds for microfinance and small-scale credit schemes and programmes and also serve as the apex body of the microfinance sub sector.
For the purposes of the objective stated above, MASLOC engages directly or indirectly in microcredit and small loans business as well as promotes and enhances the development of a decentralized micro-financial system.
In respect of operations with non-bank institutions and targeted end-users, it seeks to promote co-operation, collaboration and complementarities with other non-bank finance institutions.
Sustainability
The CEO and her team were in the Bono East Region to engage key stakeholders on the future of MASLOC, especially with regard to its sustainability.
She was not happy with the recovery rate for loans disbursed in the Bono East Region in particular, saying “out of the over eight million Ghana cedis that was disbursed to people in the region, only a little over two million Ghana cedis, representing 31 percent of the amount given, has been recovered.”
Kwasi Adu-Gyan, the Bono East Regional Minister, prayed the CEO and her team to consider reviewing the criteria for selecting beneficiaries and the disbursement formula for giving out loans to people.
He proposed the creation of what he termed “business cottages” for organized groups in the communities to take advantage of their businesses instead of the current practice where individuals are given monies and they refuse to pay back.
