600 NEW JUABEN RESIDENTS RECEIVE MASLOC LOANS (PAGE 20)

THE Koforidua area office of the Microfinance and Small Loans Centre (MASLOC) has paid GH¢140,000 to 600 beneficiaries of the scheme resident in the New Juaben Municipality and its environs.
Each of the beneficiaries was given between GH¢200 and GH¢500.
The amount, which forms part of a total of GH¢800,000 earmarked for 3,625 individual artisans, traders and operators of small-scale businesses in the region, was paid to the beneficiaries through the Koforidua branch of the National Investment Bank (NIB).
The payment was made after the presentation of withdrawal slips to 210 beneficiary groups by the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of MASLOC, Mr Lawrence Prempeh, the Eastern Regional Minister, Mr Kwadwo Affram Asiedu, as well as District and Municipal Chief Executives in Koforidua about two weeks ago.
Making the presentation, the Eastern Regional Co-ordinator of MASLOC, Mr Dominic Baah-Ayim, said the payment of the loan to the beneficiaries was in fulfilment of the promise made by President John Agyekum Kufuor to the people, when he officially launched the scheme.
He gave the assurance that within the next one week, all eligible beneficiaries in the remaining 20 districts in the region would have their moneys credited to their accounts at the various designated banks.
He said the government introduced the scheme to make available credit facilities to the various groups of associations and individual operators of small-scale businesses to undertake various income-generating ventures to raise their standard of living.
Mr Baah-Ayim urged the beneficiaries to invest the money into productive ventures that would make it possible for them to repay it for others to also benefit.
“If we are to ensure the recycling of the funds, we must check our spending habit and refrain from channelling the money into unproductive ventures such as funerals, buying clothes and other social activities,” he stressed.
The regional co-ordinator also asked the people to disabuse their minds of the fact that the funds were for free, and, therefore, could be spent anyhow as it happened in the past, where people took loans, but refused to pay back.
Some of the beneficiaries, including Ms Doris Tetteh, a 52-year-old ‘chop bar’ operator and Ms Faustina Owusu, 50, a trader, who spoke to the Daily Graphic, expressed their appreciation to the government for the support, which they said, would enable them to expand their businesses.