12 July 2009
Maputo — Mozambican Health Minister Ivo Garrido has called on the beneficiaries of the Local Initiative Investment Budget (OIIL) to repay the loans made to them by the Mozambican state, so that the money can continue to finance development programmes.
The OIIL is commonly referred to as "the seven millions" because it began, in 2006, as a transfer of seven million meticais (about 265,000 US dollars) from the central state budget to each of the 128 districts. The idea was that the money should be loaned to local individuals and businesses for projects that could improve food security and create jobs. But reports from across the country indicate that few of the beneficiaries have yet repaid any of the loans.
According to Radio Mozambique, Garrido, speaking in meetings with district governments and consultative councils in the northern province of Nampula, described the low levels of repayment as "a disease", noting that all the districts were facing the same problem.
In Erati and Memba districts, for instance, the repayment level was not more than 10 per cent. Garrido warned that the return of the money is a serious matter, and he said that the district authorities must start identifying mechanisms to recover the money.
"People must return the money that was lent to them, whatever the cost", insisted Garrido. He warned that, if they had nothing else, the debtors would have to sell their houses and even their clothes to repay the money taken from the state.
Garrido noted that many of the beneficiaries of the OIIL tell stories about the difficulties they face in their lives, as a reason for not repaying the loans.
The Minister was not impressed "it is up to these individuals to know where he money will come from to repay the state, but what is certain is that the money must be repaid, because the beneficiaries are adults, not children".
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