Deputy Speaker Tayebwa tasks the Government to regulate online Money Lenders.

14th November 2024.

By,Isaac Senabulya

Deputy Speaker, Thomas Tayebwa has pleaded with the government to regulate online money lenders in order to curb the menace caused and end the untold suffering many Ugandans are enduring at their hands.

He made the appeal via his official Twitter(X) handle, where he narrated that he had been bombarded with calls from one of the online money lending agencies after an unknown person submitted the Deputy Speaker’s contact as surety for the loan they acquired and after failing to pay, the online money lender demanded Tayebwa to pay the loan.

“Whoever is regulating these online lenders should crack the whip on them. I have just received a call from some tough-speaking lady claiming to be from Mangu Cash threatening to deduct their loan money if I don't produce some random person who put my name as their next of kin when they were borrowing. I think a lot of criminality is going on. I hope our telecoms do not allow their mobile money platforms to be used to carry out fraud orchestrated by such unscrupulous companies. Tom Magambo (Director Crimes Intelligence Unit) you need to interest yourself in this sector, many Ugandans might be dying quietly,” wrote Tayebwa.

A section of MPs expressed support for Tayebwa’s proposal to intensify regulation of online money lenders led by Muwadda Nkunyingi (Kyadondo East) who castigated the government for failing to rein in on the electronic challenges Ugandans have faced without any action being taken to end the vice and proposed to have a mechanism put in place for victims of this fraud to seek compensation from the government due to its negligence.

“It is Government that is mandated to regulate the communication sector and it is them to answer, what has happened. Because whenever we put the Government on task to account for this lacuna and these inadequacies, it is the Government and Parliament that is protective otherwise, we have the Uganda Communications Commission and we have the Ministry of Information Communications Technology, there must be connivance between the security organs and some powers that be to connive with these fraudsters to defraud the public,” stated Muwadda.

He added, “Otherwise, we must come up with mechanisms of dealing with compensation that whenever someone is defrauded and there are institutions that would be regulated by the Government, then the Government must pay.”

Ignatius Wamakuyu (Elgon County) called for increased regulation of money lenders, warning that if the players in this industry operate without strict regulations, they might crash Uganda’s economy.

“There have been many activities around the country regarding financial transactions but of recent, most of the unregulated money lenders tend to fleece their clients at times, they take their personal identification cards, property different from the terms agreed upon. My appeal to the Government is that much as Uganda Microfinance Regulatory Authority (UMRA) is rationalized back to the Ministry, they should strengthen that Tier 4 Microfinance to regulate activities of money lenders to help the community otherwise, the economy can collapse in the hands of few people,” noted Wamakuyu.