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Recalcitrant debtors of the Microfinance and Small Loans Centre (MASLOC) have started redeeming their debt obligations to the centre following threats by the centre to publish their names in the national newspapers.

So far, MASLOC has recovered GH¢16 million out of the GH¢100 million owed it.

Out of the amount, GH¢10 million was paid by defaulters, while GH¢6 million was realised from the assets of the centre which were in the hands of defaulters.

“Some of the people owing us have started to pay up, but what we are receiving is not encouraging. We shall intensify our recovery effort this year to retrieve every single penny,” the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of MASLOC, Mr Stephen Amoah, told the Daily Graphic in Accra yesterday.

Members of Parliament (MPs) from both the National Democratic Congress (NDC) and the New Patriotic Party (NPP) sides, as well as some celebrities in the entertainment industry, are among the personalities indebted to MASLOC, and in an effort to retrieve the money, the centre embarked on a manhunt last year to confiscate MASLOC vehicles in the possession of defaulters.

It also issued a threat to publish the names of people who were indebted to it to compel them to redeem their debts.

Vehicle seizures

MASLOC has seized scores of commercial vehicles, mostly taxis, from individuals and groups who have defaulted in the payment of loans taken from the centre.

“The level of indebtedness, which runs into millions of Ghana cedis, has rendered MASLOC financially incapacitated to effectively execute its mandate,” Mr Amoah told the Daily Graphic in an earlier interview last year.

The centre has continued to be in debt as a result of its failure to redeem money from the beneficiaries of its loans.

In 2009, it took steps to recover GH¢81,846,875 owed by defaulting recipients.

Since the beginning of 2017, MASLOC has not been able to embark on any serious activity owing to the huge indebtedness to it.

To put more fillip in its operations, the centre set up a loan recovery task force to clamp down on all defaulters.

Mr Amoah has been complaining about the precarious financial situation of the organisation since he assumed office.

The centre was established in 2006 by the erstwhile Kufuor administration to provide funds for micro and small-scale entrepreneurs to strengthen their operations as an effective and viable strategy for poverty reduction.

Lawyers for MASLOC had, in the past, worked seriously to prosecute defaulters, with a list of heavy debtors being referred to the then Serious Fraud Office, now the Economic and Organised Crime Officer (EOCO), and the Bureau of National Investigations (BNI) for action.
Politicisation

The challenges facing MASLOC have been largely blamed on the politicisation of the institution, and succeeding managers keep blaming previous administrations for failing to follow due diligence in disbursing money to beneficiaries, citing weak institutional checks and monitoring, as well as improper documentation of beneficiaries.

Sympathisers of a ruling party at any particular point in time who benefit from MASLOC always fail to pay back their loans, on the assumption that the support given them should be seen as a reward for their support for the party.

Some of the beneficiaries are said to have used other people’s names to secure loans without the knowledge and consent of those whose names were used.

Mr Amoah indicated that as part of moves to provide effective and efficient services, the centre had completed the refurbishment of its offices in the 216 districts and the renovation of the head office in Accra.