Loan sharks spread terror to borrowers

By Amos Kareithi

Grass has overgrown in the broken cowsheds, the manure dried up and the compound littered with upturned and disused milking cans in a homestead, which only three months ago was awash with milk.

Now with a shaky hand on her hollow cheek accentuating the prematurely graying hairline, 43-year-old Dorcas Muremba stares into the horizon forlornly, pondering where she went wrong.

Mrs Dorcas Muremba, a victim of shylocks, narrates her ordeal at the hands of the loan sharks. [PHOTO: JENNIFER WACHIE]

Muremba, a mother of three, is in an unshakeable stranglehold of some racketeers who are slowly driving her crazy and she has run out of options. They have callously turned off the only taps, which brought income into her family. Now all she can do is brood and hope that dawn will bring more hope.

On January 19, Muremba had a brainwave, as she ventured into a seedy office in Githunguri. But to her horror, she has come to the gloomy reality that the road to hell is paved with good intentions.

Desperate times

"At that time I wanted to enroll my 20-year-old daughter into a private college in Githunguri to pursue a Certified Public Accounts (CPA) II class. I urgently needed Sh10,000 to pay her fees," she tearfully recounts.

The desperate mother fell for the antics of a silky tongued, smooth talking shylock identified as Terresia.

She assured her the loan would be paid in four weekly installments. She was given payment schedule inscribed in a palm sized green card.

In a month, Terresia was to get Sh5,000 profit from the Sh10,000 she had loaned to Muremba. As a safeguard against defaulting, she had sent scouts to Muremba’s home in Ngewa, who ascertained that she had some moveable assets, which could be auctioned should she fail to pay.

The first week was easy as Muremba paid Sh2,000, which was considered as interest. The principal remained unchanged. The initial agreement was that she pays Sh4,500 on the first week.

Three weeks later, on February 4, three men went to Muremba’s home at around 10.30am, surveyed and left word they had been sent by the shylock to recover her money.

Then things went awry and Teressia came demanding her money back. It is then that the shylock’s hirelings descended on Muremba’s homestead and ferried away her cow.

As Muremba was to learn later, her home was not the only one in Ngewa location, which had been visited by the auctioneers on behalf of the loan shark.

Winnie Nyambura, too had been a benefactor of the loan shark’s poisoned chalice.

She too had borrowed Sh10,000 ostensibly to restock her sukuma wiki business.

Warning shot

"As agreed, I gave Terresia Sh4,500 in cash as the first weekly installments. I had no problem paying Sh4,000 for the second week. But things went awry and I could not meet the weekly deadlines," Nyambura explains.

The shylock sent auctioneers to Nyambura’s home on February 10, and warned her that her Friesian cow would be attached unless she paid Sh14,000 and an additional Sh5,200 as costs of the auctioneers.

"When I came in the evening, I was shocked to learn that despite paying Sh8,500, out of Sh10,000 which I had borrowed, I was now expected to pay Sh20,200. This seemed very unfair," Nyambura adds.

Like bushfire, word spread around the location that there were some shylocks on the prowl who were bent on attaching grade cows in Ngewa. A total of 22 aggrieved women soon networked and marched to the chief’s office in Githunguri.

Ngewa location chief, Rachael Muiruri, summoned Teressia on February 10, ordering her to appear before her accompanied by two elders to answer to the accusations leveled by the women.

"It is true I handled the matter. I can confirm there are shylocks in my area, but I have since reported the matter to the District Commissioner. It would not be appropriate for me to comment about the cases. Please ask my boss," the chief told CCI.

The victims told of harrowing tales in the hands of shylocks and the police who stormed their homesteads.

Esther Wambui Thuo, 56, recalls how three of her cows were seized on March 12, at around 6pm after she failed to repay a Sh50,000 loan she had borrowed to secure her husband’s medication.

"At the time they came to my home, I had paid them Sh45,000 out of the Sh65,000 I was supposed to give the shylock. They carted away three grade cows valued at Sh240,000. They are now demanding Sh102,000 as a condition to release the animals," Wambui says.

She recalls how she unsuccessfully tried reporting the matter at Githunguri Police Station immediately after the incident. She was blocked by some police officers who directed her to hire a lawyer as this was a civil matter.

"I finally reported the incident vide OB 42/12/103/2010 after the intervention of a provincial administrator. However, I was denied an opportunity to record a statement," Wambui says

I have tried to pursue the matter but the shylocks are protected by the very people who are supposed to assist us. We do not know what to do as the shylocks have been let loose on us," she moans.

Posing as clients desperate to secure financial bail out, CCI tracked Teresia, one of the shylocks, and approached her for a Sh10,000 loan.

Suicide victims

"Who are you and where are you calling from. I do not seem to recall you but I am sorry I cannot promise you anything over the phone," the moneylender said.

When we pressed her saying we desperately needed the money, Teresia eased off saying that she was no longer lending money for interest.

"I no longer carry out that business. I am sorry I cannot assist you in this," she said before disconnecting the phone.

Our sources indicate that at least two women have committed suicide after falling victims to shylocks who had auctioned all their valuables without obtaining any court orders.

"As we speak, one woman has fled from her home after she was attacked by her son. The woman had borrowed Sh10,000 but the shylocks came and attached her son’s cow. The son was very infuriated and chased away his mother," Wambui says.

Githunguri DC, Henry Wanyama confirms that the area has been invaded by shylocks who are fleecing members of public off their hard earned money.

"We have held a series of meetings to debate about this development. I have instructed members of public who have fallen victim to the shylocks to report to the District Security Committee. We want to eradicate this vice as it has spread miserly in Githunguri," Wanyama says.

Illegal business

He warns that shylocking under whatever guise is illegal and both the borrower and the person receiving the money are guilty.

"What worries me is that although commercial banks are literally hawking their loans, there is a category of people who still prefer the shylocks. They only come to us after their assets are impounded and sold," the DC observes.

"I will not allow any police officer to become a debt collector for the loan sharks," he said.

Documents in our possession show that the auctioneers mostly obtained their orders from a court outside the district after bypassing courts in Githunguri.