THE NATIONAL Board for Small Scale Industries (NBSSI) has urged applicants of the Coronavirus Alleviation Programme Business Support Scheme (CAPBuSS) to desist from making payment to any intermediary who may request processing fees to facilitate their request.
According to the board, no association, individual or group of persons has been mandated to discuss, collect or facilitate payment on behalf of NBSSI and for that reason has encouraged the public to direct all concerns relating to the application process to the public relations unit of the board.
In a press statement released on Monday, September 7, 2020, the board made reference to media reports which indicated that members of the Ghana National Council of Private Schools (GNACOPS) were wrongly required to make a processing fee payment of four per cent on loan requests.
“The board has engaged GNACOPS on a number of issues and even queried them about the four per cent charge. We maintain that the charge is unacceptable,” it said.
NBSSI also made a request to the public “to disregard any claims by GNACOPS that the board is demanding an extra three per cent fees in respect of the loans being granted under the CAPBuSS from their members.”
It also encouraged Ghanaians to report any person engaged in the act of soliciting funds from CAPBuSS applicants to the nearest police station.
“The NBSSI wants to state emphatically that we are not asking and have not contracted any association to charge applicants,” the statement read.
By Issah Mohammed