Stakeholders meet over microfinance defaulters

KIGALI - A taskforce established to recover money owed to microfinance institutions is seeking more decisive actions, blaming the National Police and the Prosecution for the delays. Out of Rwf 7.2bn owed, only Rwf 22 million has been recovered in the process. Statistics indicate that over 100 cases were complete and the suspects were found culpable of swindling over Rwf79 million which they have not been able to refund. “The two organs should put more efforts to implicate those who misused their offices leading the entities to run bankrupt. They should investigate former employees and managers of microfinance institutions accused of embezzlement as soon as possible,” said Tharcisse Karugarama, the minister of Justice The meeting that aimed at reviewing the implementation of the action plan was the fifth since December last year. The taskforce is made up of officials from three ministries; Justice, Local government, and Internal Security, as well as the National Bank (BNR) and the directorate of Public Prosecution (NPPA). Microfinance managements and liquidators were urged to produce a list of defaulters for BNR and the Association of Microfinance Institutions (AMIR) to follow up. “They should present evidence to the Police and Prosecution for legal pursuit. The technical team should establish the total amount — paid and unpaid — within three weeks for evaluation on March 21,” Karugarama said. Ends