Deputy Speaker of Parliament Thomas Tayebwa has vowed to take tough action to address the harassment and unethical practices of online money lending companies.
Tayebwa’s remarks came after he personally experienced harassment from an agent of Mangu Cash, sparking widespread public conversation about the operations of such companies.
“Thank you for the overwhelming responses to my post about the harassment I received from an agent of Mangu Cash using the mobile number 0788135455,” Tayebwa shared on his social media.
He revealed that many similar companies operate without proper registration, tax compliance, or accessible customer care services.
“There seem to be very many companies of this nature without physical traceability… and they run online terror squads threatening to shame innocent victims,” he added.
Tayebwa acknowledged receiving numerous testimonies from Ugandans who have suffered harassment and threats from these companies. He also admitted that previous warnings about such practices, including a campaign by activist Regesa, had gone unnoticed.
“For those saying they’re glad it happened to me since we ignored Regesa when he raised the red flag, you are right, only that I didn’t know about this campaign,” Tayebwa confessed, adding that he recently spoke with Regesa to understand the depth of the problem.
Tayebwa expressed alarm at reports that some of these companies resort to legal intimidation to silence complaints.
“I’m told they use threats once you raise a public concern about them and even use courts to silence people,” he revealed.
The Deputy Speaker pledged to spearhead regulatory reforms to curb the activities of these predatory lenders.
“We are now going to take it seriously. If the issue is about weak regulation, we are going to do whatever it takes to have it sorted. They have to either shape up or ship out,” he said.
One of the victims said, “My concern is about the Mara loan app. If you put in a request of 350k, they only remit about 250k yet you have to reimburse the former and that is in one week. That puts it at an interest rate of over 40%. They then call and threaten you two days before the time for reimbursing the loan ellipses. If you fail to pay within those days they download your picture from the whatsapp Dp and circulate it on top of calling people in your contact list threatening them.”
The borrowers are complaining about apps like ; ManguCash, Mara, LoanGo, QuickSente, OKLoan, FairCredit, Cashbase, Dovecash, Isente, CashX and others.
