Ruto dismisses calls for scrapping of Hustler Fund, says KHRC verdict is a distraction
He maintains that the fund has significantly benefited small businesses through microloans, urging Kenyans not to buy into their ill rhetoric
President William Ruto has told off those calling for the disbandment of the Hustler Fund, saying he shall not be swayed by naysayers, adding that its policies are well-informed with strategies in place.
Speaking during a meeting with private sector stakeholders, Ruto fired at his critics for terming the Hustler Fund as a failed plan.
He maintained that the empowerment initiative has disbursed over Sh72 billion to 26 million Kenyans, mobilised over Sh5 billion in savings, and provided vital working capital to millions of micro-entrepreneurs.
Ruto said the fund has significantly benefited small businesses through microloans, urging Kenyans not to buy into their ill rhetoric.
“I take pride in the success of the Hustler Fund. In under three years, it has disbursed over Sh72 billion to 26 million Kenyans, mobilising Sh5 billion in savings. Our critics, the naysayers, the perpetual pessimists, and the chorus that never sees anything working in Kenya would have you believe that the Hustler Fund is a total failure. They say this because they either do not understand or refuse to acknowledge the daily realities of the millions of Kenyans this fund was designed to empower,” he stated.
According to Ruto, the statistics that 60 per cent of Hustler Fund loan takers are false and meant to distort facts deliberately.
“The truth backed by data is that the Hustler Fund has a recovery rate of 83.3 per cent, nearly identical to that of the formal banking sector, whose repayment rate stands at 83.6 per cent,” he said.
The remarks by the president come after the Kenya Human Rights Commission earlier this week warned that the Hustler Fund is a failed financial scheme, adding that it lacks a sustainability plan.
In their report, dubbed ‘Failing the Hustlers, ’ KHRC indicated that there is a 68 per cent default rate, where for every Sh500 loan disbursed, Sh340 is effectively lost.
The human rights commission argued that the crisis will pile pressure on the exchequer as the government is forced to borrow, mainly through Treasury bills, to keep the Hustler Fund initiative running.
KHRC further argued that the defaulting rate began to steadily rise in December 2022, as 40.7 per cent of the borrowers failed to pay the loan by December 14, 2022, 47.5 per cent by December 15, 52.2 per cent by December 16, and 68.3 per cent by December 20, 2022.
The report has, however, been met with harsh ridicule from the ruling administration, as Co-operatives and Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs) Development Cabinet Secretary Wycliffe Oparanya accused KHRC of using flawed data and biased methodology to discredit the Fund.
“Professionalism demands a response from key players. The conclusions made are keen to sentence the Fund to death without trial,” Oparanya said in a statement.
