Experts warn over 10bn/- loans plan

Bobby · 2010-03-09T05:20:32+00:00

I thought ni muhimu kushare hii habari ya the Guardian la jana. Economists have challenged the government plan to issue small scale entrepreneurs with empowerment funds for the second phase, before making evaluation of the 21bn/- issued in the past three years. The Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Finance and Economic Affairs, Ramadhani Khijjah said last Thursday that plans are underway for the government to issue loans to small scale entrepreneurs with intentions to reduce poverty. He said a total of 10bn/- was set for the exercise. In an interview with The Guardian in Dar es Salaam yesterday the economists said the government should first satisfy itself that funds offered in the first phase were properly allocated and spent, to avoid misuse of funds. They warned that if the funds are not properly managed it may lead to corruption scandals. Economist Ibrahim Lipumba, who is also CUF National Chairman, said so far there is no clear evidence of successful projects or of people who benefited from the loans offered in the first phase. "No one is comfortable with the expenditures in the first phase. This is misuse of funds, because you cannot continue to give people money without being satisfied with how the funds issued earlier were spent," he said. Lipumba said the issue was political, suggesting that it might be among strategies the ruling party wants to use to attract votes in the general elections. University of Dar es Salaam's Economist and Policy Analyst Dr Haji Semboja called for laws and regulations to guide entrepreneurs for sustainable positive impacts. He cautioned that without proper supervision, the funds are likely to be misused and lead to corruption scandals. He said the government was making a mistake by channelling the funds through banks instead of using other financial institutions. He said that if the funds are channelled through special financial institutions, it will be easy to trace the benefiting entrepreneurs and the use of the funds. He recommended that the loans be given through the Small Entrepreneurship Loan Facility (SELF), Small Industries Development Organization (SIDO) and such similar institutions. Dr Semboja attributed failure of the first round of empowerment funds to lack of supervision. "Once you provide funds through banks it becomes difficult to monitor expenditure, but other institutions can closely monitor their members", he said. He proposed that the 10bn/- to be injected in the ‘agriculture first' programme to ensure reliable food production, creation of employment and improvement of irrigation schemes. Prof Tadeo Satta of Institute of Finance Management (IMF), blamed the government for lacking proper laws and regulations to monitor the borrowers. He advised the government to start issuing loans to entrepreneurs through financial institutions instead of using banks. Deputy Minister, Finance and Economic Affairs, Jeremiah Sumary, when contacted, briefly said the government is determined to ensure proper use of the funds. The 21bn/- known as ‘JK Billions' issued in 2007 were aimed at helping the poor rural communities, particularly youths to fight poverty by starting income generating activities. They were issued through the National Microfinance Bank (NMB) and CRDB bank. Deputy Minister for Labour, Employment and Youth Development Dr Makongoro Mahanga told Members of Parliament during the last parliamentary meeting that they were conducting an evaluation exercise of the 21bn/- given to low income earners in 2007. He said the exercise was being done through Regional Administrative Secretaries under supervision of his ministry. He said that evaluation results will be presented in the next parliament meeting. SOURCE: THE GUARDIAN Looks like hatujifunzi kutokana na makosa. Kwani tuko tayari kufanya upuuzi wa aina yeyote ile as long as long utafanikisha malengo yetu ya kisiasa hata kama ni kwa gharama ya maskini wa kitanzania ambaye mlo mmoja kwake ni muujiza. Deal nyingine kama hii "Mabilioni Ya Kikwete" (I hate the name big time, where in the world did he get the monies to play with?) imefail vibaya still tunakuja na upuuzi mwingine kama ule ule wa kuangamiza kodi za mwananchi wa kule chini Nanjilinji.. Kwangu mimi hii ni sehemu ya kampeni kwa ajili ya uchaguzi otherwise hakuna sababu ya kuboil kiasi hiki. For how long nonsenses like this one will continue?

Thread starter Bobby
Start date Mar 9, 2010

Bobby

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Experts warn over 10bn/- loans plan

Bobby

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