Don’t politicize Odawna shopping mall MASLOC relief loans – Board Chair
26th November 2020
Board Chairman of the Microfinance and Small Loan Centre (MASLOC) is advising against politicizing the support it is given to traders at the Pedestrians Shopping Mall at Kwame Nkrumah Circle whose wares got burnt last week Wednesday.
Seth Adjei-Baah said even though the fire accident occurred during electioneering season and as such people could misconstrue it to be political, the move is for the future of the people.
He gave the advice in an interview on Onua FM’s Ghana Dadwene on Wednesday, November 25 hosted by Nana Yaw Opare.
Hundreds of stalls at the Odawna Market at Kwame Nkrumah Circle in Accra were burnt on Wednesday, November 18, 2020.
The first day of the validation of traders whose wares got burnt at the Odawna pedestrian shopping mall at Kwame Nkrumah Circle in the Klottey Korley Municipal Assembly of Accra on Tuesday, November 24, 2020, recorded over one thousand traders.
The validation exercise which took place at the Klottey Korley Municipal Assembly Hall with twenty personnel is being done by the Microfinance and Small Loan Centre (MASLOC).
The exercise is to facilitate speedy processes of relief funds to the victims of the inferno.
Mr. Adjei-Baah noted that “we are given one thousand people immediately and when we finish working with the 1,000, we will move on.”
He explained that “because of the problem, we can give them one moratorium so that they can start paying off the loan after one year.”
“We have waived the interest on that because it’s a relief for them. We are not profit-making entities. We are supporting them.”
The former Member of Parliament for Nkawkaw Constituency in the Eastern Region said “if we pick 1,000 or 2000, it is the way forward if we put politics aside. We are thinking about the future, it’s not about politics. It’s not because we are in the political season and the election is near.”
Other support
Mr. Adjei-Baah said apart from MASLOC, other sister state organizations are also helping them with funds that would make them come back to their normalcy.
“The National Board for Small-Scale Industries (NBSSI) is also helping. Our sister organizations are also doing something”.
The Chairman explained that “if we don’t help them, the future of this nation would be in jeopardy. Some people started in a small way by selling just polythene bags but they are now estate developers”.