Couple flees village after Shs500,000 wedding loan

[Da Dona]

What was meant to be a celebration for Leo and Hellen ended in disgrace and flight after a loan taken to fund their wedding was never repaid.

The couple has abandoned their matrimonial home in Teyao Village, Alwala Parish, Ogur Sub-county, Lira District.

In March this year, Leo borrowed Shs500,000 from Note En Teko, a village savings and loan association (VSLA), to give his wife a wedding to remember. He promised to repay the money after one month with Shs50,000 interest, pledging a piece of customary land in Teyao as collateral.

The money was used to fund the wedding that same month, but the repayment never came. By September 16, 2026, Note En Teko was demanding Shs1.25 million — Shs500,000 in principal and Shs750,000 in interest.

Fearing arrest, the couple fled. Leo left in May, while Hellen returned to her family in neighbouring Alyec Village in July.

When the group moved to take the pledged land, it found that Leo had already rented it out.

Michael Odongo, the LC3 chairperson of Ogur Sub-county and Hellen's brother, said the debt had wrecked his brother-in-law's life.
​

“When the group wanted to take the land he had placed as collateral, they soon realised it had already been rented out,” he said. “My sister has come back home and Leo is nowhere to be seen.”​

The LC1 chairperson of Teyao Village, also named Michael Odongo, confirmed on September 28 that the couple had left.​

“We hear he is staying in a remote village in Lamwo District, at the South Sudan border,” he said.​

Local leaders say such cases are common. In Ogur Sub-county alone, at least three men have fled their homes this year and their marriages have collapsed, according to the LC3 chairperson.

Abdallah Aziz Epalat, who manages SACCOs at Pearl Bank, said loans only work when invested productively, noting that VSLA and SACCO money is a revolving fund.​

“Since it is money that is not yours, let us have the dignity and the courtesy to make sure it is paid back,” he said while addressing Arova Producers Cooperative Society Ltd in Lira City on September 24, 2024.​

He warned borrowers against diverting business loans to consumption.
​

“You promise you are going to buy machinery or stock for the business. But most often, what do you find? You find that a man has married another woman,” he said.​

“So you come and lie to the manager that you want money to buy a machine, then you go and invest it in a wedding just to make your spouse happy.”

Epalat recalled a borrower who took a loan from Pearl Bank for a wedding and divorced six months later.
​

“I don't know how that gentleman is going to complete his loan, but unfortunately, the loan has to be paid,” he said.​

He advised borrowers to plan for instalments before borrowing and never ignore small debts.

“Can you trust such a person with Shs8 billion, someone who can't pay Shs250,000?” he asked, citing a man who had applied for Shs8 billion but had failed to clear a Shs250,000 MTN debt for six months.​