Vice President Dr Michael Usi has underscored the need for loan repayment among beneficiaries, saying loans provided by the National Economic Empowerment Fund (NEEF) are not freebies.
Usi made the remarks in Mzimba on Friday during a consultative meeting on NEEF loans.
The Vice President said some Malawians have wrong perception on the removal of collateral.
“The whole reason of removing loan collateral was to ensure even the poorest get access. It’s not freebies. People will need to repay so that other Malawians benefit as well,” he said.
Usi stressed that some Malawians are too poor to afford loans.
“And to cater for such people we had to remove the collateral in order to help them get the loans and with these loans improve the economic status of their families,” he said.
Paramount Chief M’mbelwa V asked chiefs, Members of Parliament and Councillors and other community leaders to propagate the message of loan repayment.
He also applauded NEEF for introducing agricultural loans, saying it will help more people access it and cultivate a lot of land for farming.
“Mzimba has vast and fertile tracks of land and we can feed the whole Malawi if we receive good rains. So, this loan on agriculture is a very good move,” said M’mbelwa.
Head of Operations for NEEF, Kisa Kalolokesya, said so far the organisation had disbursed over K133 billion in three years benefiting over 182,000 people.
Kalolokesya said northern region has so far received over K28 billion with K8.3 billion for Mzimba.
After the interactive meeting at Sandton Conference Hall, Usi visited some shops at Mzimba Boma main market whose proprietors are beneficiaries of the NEEF loans.
