19 TAXIS IMPOUNDED FROM MASLOC LOAN DEFAULTERS (BACK PAGE , APRIL 2, 2010)

NINETEEN taxis have been impounded by the Microfinance and Small Loans Centre (MASLOC) from owners who are said to have defaulted in the payment of loans for their purchase.
The move by the centre, in its quest to recover loans from the micro credit and taxi beneficiaries, was executed mainly in the Greater Accra Region between Monday, April 26, 2010 and yesterday.
It is to be extended to the various regions in the country as part of efforts by MASLOC to recover various sums of monies from its defaulters.
The Chief Executive Officer of MASLOC, Madam Bertha Ansah-Djan, told the media in Accra that efforts were still underway to recover more taxis from loan defaulters.
She said in 2008 the centre gave out 292 vehicles to various individuals, but 70 per cent of them were in arrears at the time the new management took office.
“In January we made it clear that we were going all out to make sure that we recover our monies from both the micro credit and the taxi beneficiaries who are in arrears,” she said.
Madam Ansah-Djan said the centre had so far recovered about 50 per cent of the loans since the new management assumed office.
She said the exercise to recover the loans had become tedious due to the lack of proper records of group and individual beneficiaries.
Madam Ansah-Djan, however, noted that the centre would do all it could within the law to recover the loans.
She warned recalcitrant beneficiaries to pay their loans as early as possible to avoid embarrassment.
“Management is putting in proper structures that would see MASLOC rise to the occasion in its quest to reduce poverty in our communities. This restructuring is also to help us not to repeat the mistakes of the past especially with loan disbursement.”
A board member of MASLOC, Mr Pius Austin, said the centre was finding it difficult to recover the loans due to improper records on the beneficiaries.
He said records available at the centre contained wrong addresses of beneficiaries, which had made tracing them very tedious, and attributed the problem of wrong addresses and poor records to the hasty processing of the loans.
He also alleged that the GH¢1 million which was allocated to flood victims in northern Ghana in 2008 went to individuals as loans and had not been recovered.
Mr Austin said measures were being put in place to clean up the list of defaulters.
The measures were also to ensure that defaulters were identified and prosecuted according to the terms of the loans.
He noted that the Eastern Region alone had 194 defaulters, but quickly added that the centre had lodged a complaint with the Koforidua District Court to help with the prosecution of the defaulters.
“We are also making arrangements to involve some state institutions such as the Serious Fraud Office (SFO) and the Criminal Investigations Department (CID) to help in the prosecution of defaulters.”