Muslims who attained their higher education through Islamic Development Bank (IDB)’s scholarships should be prepared to be dragged to court if they continue being reluctant in paying back their loan, Malawi Muslims Official Website has established.
Since 1980s IDB has been offering scholarships to the “needy” Muslims through Muslim Association of Malawi (MAM) as only implementing partner in the country.
According to the IDB scholarship documents which this website is in possession, the beneficiaries make a vow by signing a legal bond that they will pay back the loan to MAM as IDB’s partner or to an independent trust which is supposed to be established by the beneficiaries.
The documents stipulate that the money should be paid to the said trust or MAM in order to offer financial assistance to other needy Muslims in attaining their education locally.
This website understands that the operations of the trust shall be the sole responsibility of the graduates under MAM’s supervision.
So far 85 Muslims have benefitted from the initiative with some attaining their higher education in Turkey and Malaysia.
However, it has been discovered that none of them have paid their loan despite securing lucrative jobs. This development puts the future of the needy Muslims who would have benefited from the trust in jeopardy.
Speaking in an interview, Muslim Association of Malawi Secretary General Sheikh Dr Salmin Omar Idruss confirmed that the IDB beneficiaries are not fulfilling their promise of paying back the loan.
“We have tried a lot of channels in pleading with them that they should pay their loan but nobody has adhered to the plea. However, we are still pushing them to honour their promise and we even met them at Quran House in Blantyre to map the way forward on the issue. During the meeting, it was transpired that other people are ready to pay back,” he said.
However, the SG said his organisation can use legal action to force them to pay back the loan since each one of them agreed by signing the legal bond.
In June last year, the Malawi’s IDB Project Coordinator Wilfred Ali who also works for Central Eastern African Railways Limited (CEAR) as the Director of Marketing and Commercial Services told this website that the trust was formed following discussions that have been taking place with both IDB officials in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia and the beneficiaries in the country.
He however was quick to admit that there has been a problem in running the trust by those who obtained higher education through the scholarships.
