Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises Development Principal Secretary Susan Mang’eni has dismissed claims made by former Deputy President Rigathi Gachagua about the Hustler Fund, saying the figures from Nyeri County show the programme has reached hundreds of thousands of borrowers.
In a statement issued on Tuesday, Mang’eni accused Gachagua of making “sensational claims” about the Financial Inclusion Fund, popularly known as the Hustler Fund, and said it was necessary to “set the record straight.”
Using Nyeri County as an example, the PS said 420,000 people had so far accessed the fund, borrowing a cumulative KSh1.88 billion.
“To date, in Nyeri County, 420,000 Kenyans have accessed the Hustler Fund, borrowing cumulatively KSh1.88 billion. Actually, this represents more than half of Nyeri County’s population,” Mang’eni said.
She also provided figures for individual borrowers, saying the top borrower in Nyeri County had cumulatively accessed KSh2.06 million.
According to the PS, the leading borrower in Mathira Constituency had accessed KSh648,000, while the top borrower in Ruguru Ward had borrowed KSh584,000.
Mang’eni further said Nyeri County currently has the highest repayment rate in the country at 88 per cent.
“Nyeri County also has the highest repayment rate in the country at 88%, followed closely by Murang’a, Kiambu, and Nairobi at 87%,” she said.
The PS questioned the basis of Gachagua’s criticism of the fund, asking in Kiswahili: “Huyu anaskiza ground gani?” loosely translated as “Which ground is he listening to?”
The statement marks the latest exchange between government officials and the former Deputy President over the performance of the Hustler Fund, a flagship Kenya Kwanza financial inclusion programme launched to provide affordable credit to small traders, informal workers and low-income earners.
Gachagua says he is yet to hear any Kenyan say they have expanded their business courtesy of the Hustler Fund.
“Ruto established the Hustler Fund whose head or tail cannot be traced. The Hustler Fund is said to have disbursed Ksh87 billion to 28 million people. What a paradox, what a lie! I am yet to hear any Kenyan say they have expanded their business courtesy of the Hustler Fund,” Gachagua said.
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