[UAH] Uganda's machete economy - rural poverty

Folks;   I think the concept of micro-finance loan was well-intentioned, but it was badly butchered in implementation. Loans were not sufficiently guaranteed because;   1. Financial institutions wanted to make an impression to the government that they were in the business of helping the government alleviate poverty in the country, and thus gave out easy loans, and,   2. Loan applicants were dishonest; they presented forged collaterals.   These twin problems created the ultimate situation where villagers got to the point of hacking debt collectors, or creditors ended up seizing families' fixed assets, such as land and houses. And in some of this situations, the rest of the family - wives, children, siblings - have no clue that one of their own had borrowed money from the lending institutions.   One of my relatives went into hiding for nearly two months to evade creditors. As a way to buy time, he gave them my telephone number here in California to prove that he had a bankable surety!   Imagine my surprise when I got a call from Centennary bank in Tororo demanding payment for a shs. 10M loan about which I knew absolutely nothing!   Pojim     http://www.monitor.co.ug/OpEd/OpEdColumnists/CharlesOnyangoObbo/Uganda-s-machete-economy--Rural-poverty/-/878504/1902464/-/u2qjd2z/-/index.html