By RASHAD ROLLE

Tribune Senior Reporter

rrolle@tribunemedia.net

EDUCATION Loan Authority chairman Miriam Emmanuel would not say yesterday if Senator Ranard Henfield was accurate about repaying his student loan to the government, suggesting the authority is still awaiting proof from him.

Senator Henfield was among nearly 100 people whose names were published in a local newspaper in December because of delinquent loans. But he told the press he has no debt and made his final payment in 2004.

However, education officials since December have been coy when asked if their list was accurate. 

Asked about Mr Henfield’s claim yesterday, Ms Emmanuel, the MICAL MP, said: “I had a conversation with him and we are still in the process of continuing that conversation. Out of that conversation there are some formalities that need to be taken care of. As far as I know and that he knows, we still have to finish those formalities. Those formalities are confidential, because they are personal records pertaining to him that he is seeking to further satisfy the authority so until he does that I am not able to say if he spoke the truth or didn’t speak the truth because we’re still dealing with it. Until then I can’t say that he didn’t speak the truth or he did speak the truth.”

When contacted for a response, Mr Henfield told The Tribune: “I have no comment as I’m satisfied with my recollection of 2004.”

The ELA started giving out student loans in 2000, however, the programme has been plagued with a high default rate.

In 2017 Education Minister Jeffrey Lloyd said $156 million was owed to the programme with 4,700 loans issued for 26 disciplines up to that point. The default rate, he said, was 75 percent. Warning in January 2018 that the authority’s patience was wearing thin, Mr Lloyd criticised “stubborn and recalcitrant” defaulters who refused to enter settlement discussions. 

Last year Ms Emmanuel said nearly 500 borrowers paid off their student loans through the government’s student loan repayment incentive programme established in February 2016. To that date, some 3,938 loans worth $42.56 million had been awarded to borrowers in New Providence, she said, with another 669 loans worth $7.41m awarded in Grand Bahama and 126 loans worth $1.39m were awarded in the Family Islands.