DAR ES SALAAM: IT is no longer a secret that predatory lenders have declared silent war on the poor and it is time the government responded with decisive force. Across towns and villages, illegal financial operators commonly known as “kausha damu” are trapping desperate citizens in vicious cycles of debt. They promise quick cash with little paperwork, only to impose crushing interest rates, humiliating collection tactics, and terms designed to strip borrowers of their property. This is not enterprise. It is exploitation and we ask the government to intervene not with words, but with action.
The victims are often small traders, bodaboda riders, mama lishe, and unemployed youth trying to survive in a tight economy. A medical emergency, school fees deadline, or stalled biashara pushes them to seek help. Instead of support, they find a trap and within weeks, modest loans balloon into impossible sums. Household items, plots of land, and hard-earned tools of trade are seized. Families sink deeper into poverty. Hope evaporates.
If the nation is serious about fighting poverty and empowering youth, it cannot tolerate institutions that profit from despair. Recently, the Prime Minister Dr Mwigulu Nchemba directed regional authorities to take immediate and strict action against individuals and entities engaged in predatory lending. That directive must not gather dust. It should ignite a coordinated national crackdown that leaves no room for hesitation or compromise.
Law enforcement agencies, working closely with the Bank of Tanzania, must intensify efforts to identify and punish unlicensed lenders. Licences of offending institutions should be suspended without delay. Repeat offenders should face heavy fines, asset seizures, and criminal prosecution. Public hotlines should be strengthened and widely publicized so victims can safely report abuse. Protection for whistleblowers is essential. Fear must change sides.
However, enforcement alone is not enough. The persistence of “kausha damu” is also a symptom of limited access to affordable, formal credit. When banks maintain high interest rates and rigid lending conditions, small entrepreneurs are pushed toward informal and often illegal alternatives. Formal financial institutions must be challenged to lower rates, simplify requirements, and design products that genuinely serve micro and small enterprises. Inclusion is not charity; it is sound economic policy.
A healthy credit market should reward productivity, not punish vulnerability. Digital lenders and microfinance institutions operating legally must also be closely monitored to ensure transparency in pricing and ethical collection practices. Regulation should be firm but fair, protecting both borrowers and responsible lenders.
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This is ultimately a moral question. Do we allow financial vampires to drain the lifeblood of hardworking citizens, or do we defend them with the full weight of the law? Every auctioned sewing machine, every confiscated motorcycle, every shuttered kiosk is a setback in the national struggle for shared prosperity and more so, youth employment.
The government has spoken; now it must act decisively uproot illegal lenders, reform the credit system, and protect the poor, especially the youth who are eager to work but remain trapped in vicious cycles of poverty, struggling to repay high-interest loans to “Kausha Damu” predators.