The angry customers
HUNDREDS of residents at Ho and other parts of the Volta Region who have been duped by some microfinance institutions and other financial schemes have cried out to government to help retrieve their monies.
They have therefore threatened to boycott the November polls should government fail to assist them, a position amplified on one of their numerous placards; ‘No Money, No Vote.’
The residents made the threat when they hit the principal streets in Ho to register their frustrations at the alleged scammers.
Little Drops, Prosperity and Good Health Develop Winners, Royal Foundation, Global Leads, Royal Care, Marceph Wealth, JODEQ Network, Clear Image and Divine Rain among others were fingered as the perpetrators of the unholy act.
The victims were blaming the government because they claimed most of the alleged scammers operated within jurisdictions of the various district and municipal assemblies and were dully registered by these assemblies.
In a petition presented to the Volta Regional Coordinating Council (VRCC) the protestors explained that the companies showed documents from the Registrar Generals Department, Bank of Ghana and Municipal Assemblies to prove their legitimacy. These documents which had the coat of arms on them were boldly displayed in their offices.
They said they became victims of this mishap as result of poor supervision from government agencies and local assemblies, “hence the resolve to petition the government since it is its duty to see to the welfare of his people.”
The schemes, which gain prominence between 2014 and 2015 were scattered across the region in locations such as Keta, Aflao, Ho, Hohoe, Akatsi, Dzodze just to mention a few.
For instance, persons who invested at least GH¢380 and GH¢450 with Little Drop and Prosperity clubs respectively, were promised returns of GH¢6000 and GH¢5000 between an average of five months.
Actually, a few people benefitted from the scheme and this was widely published throughout the region, attracting a lot more people in return, including lecturers, administrators, nurses, traders, students among others.
Some even went to the extent of borrowing from the bank to invest only to be swindled by these mushroom financial institutions.
Handing the petition to the Acting Chief Director of the Regional Coordinating Council, Christoph Afenyo, the group said, over 80,000 victims across the country could not retrieve their investments.
“We therefore urge government to bring all the defaulting institutions to book to pay all our bonuses to us as promised because they traded with our monies for years which brought them a lot of dividends,” the group said.
They also called on government to investigate various banks especially Fidelity, Stanbic and Unity Rural banks which collaborated with the schemers to commit these dubious activities.
Similar scams hit the Brong Ahafo, Upper East and West regions by DKM, God Is Love Fun Club, Jastar Motors and Investments Company Limited among others. Similarly, clients lost a lot of money after they could not retrieve their deposits from these phony institutions. The intuitions were later closed down by the Bank of Ghana.
From Fred Duodu and Sumaiya Salify Saeed