In a rare departure from the established convention, the Fund’s managers have published on the Fund’s website, the names of 31,223 persons who took loans from it but have defaulted in paying back. Among the defaulters are some whose repayments have been outstanding for close to ten years.
The Fund is threatening to go a step further to publish the names of the defaulters in the national dailies if they do not take immediate steps to redeem their indebtedness.
The Trust Fund has explained that, the names published on the website are “borrowers who are in default of their monthly installments; or have not started repayment of their loans.”
The SLTF’s most recent initiative comes as part of several other measures being undertaken by the Fund to encourage loan beneficiaries to repay their loans once the complete the education and begin working.
Advisory signage on how to repay these loans, and how the SLTF could assist those with peculiar difficulties with respect to repayments, can be seen at vantage locations at the Kotoka International Airport and other similar places. The Fund is also exploring opportunities for working closely with employers, beneficiaries, guarantors, and Ghana’s foreign missions to see how these stakeholders could facilitate repayments by past loan beneficiaries.
But it will appear that the current challenges with the national economy which have led to a sustained decline in employment levels are impacting on beneficiaries’ ability to repay their loans.
SLTF is a fund established by law to provide financial support to tertiary students. After completing their courses of study, beneficiary students are given a two-year grace period to start repayment.
Managers of the SLTF had earlier lamented that the fund is owed close to GHc78 million. They have said the continued operation of the fund could be jeopardised if borrowers failed to repay their loans.
Source: Public Agenda
