John Tumusiime, the Hoima District Commercial who supervises the Saccos, says some of them were formed with ill intentions where as others have been mismanaged.
The Microfinance Support Center has sued several Saccos in Hoima accused of defaulting on their loan repayment. Ivan Nkata, the Hoima Zonal Officer, Microfinance Support Center says they are yet to recover Shillings 1.5 billion of the Shillings 5.5 billion disbursed to various Saccos in the district.
He identifies some of the defaulters as Hoima Self Help, Buhimba, Buhanika, Buseruka, Busisi, Butema Kigorobya and Bugambe Saccos. He however, declined to give a breakdown of how each Sacco owes the center.
According to Nkata, the cases against the Saccos are already on going before Masindi High Court and Hoima Chief Magistrate's court. He says other Saccos with clear reason such as poor agriculture yield have had their loans rescheduled or been follow up loans to recover the previous funds.
He however, says not all the Saccos are performing poorly. He cites Kyangwali Sida and Heda Saccos as those that have performed exceptional well and are looked at as model Saccos. John Tumusiime, the Hoima District Commercial who supervises the Saccos, says some of them were formed with ill intentions where as others have been mismanaged.
He says close to 20 out of the 40 Saccos that accessed loans from the Microfinance Support Center are dormant. Tumusiime says the district has also engaged the Inspectorate of Government to handle serious cases so as to recover money from some of the Saccos.
//Cue in......"Partly the dormancy......
Cue out......Sooner than later........"//
Michael Baguma, the manager of Hoima Self Help Sacco blames their failure to service their loan on poor returns from the members.
According to Baguma, most of those who took the loans are from fishing communities along Lake Albert, who are battling low production. According to Baguma, his Sacco owes the Center Shillings 38 million.
Thembo Kahungu
Freelancer
