Why Ruto critic Edwin Sifuna wants Kenyans to apply for Hustler Fund
Nairobi senator Edwin Sifuna has said that Kenyans who default paying Hustler Fund will ‘escape’ easily because the government has no legal resource to go after them.
As result, the ODM Secretary General has encouraged Kenyans to take the Hustler Fund.
“I encourage Kenyans to take the Hustler Fund money because there’s no legal recourse for the government to come after them because of not paying back,” Sifuna said.
His sentiment came just a few hours after he suggested that the legal underpinning of the Hustler Fund is questionable.
Also read: Babu Owino: Sh500 from Hustler Fund can only buy ‘mayai boiro’
He also claimed that the regulations for the fund were only passed in Parliament on the day of the fund’s launch.
Speaking to the fund’s launch on Wednesday at Green Park Bus terminus in Nairobi, President William Ruto said that the fund would unlock economic equality.
“I am happy that from today we shall all be equal as Kenyans. This is the fund that is going to equalise all the people of Kenya so that every citizen can know that they matter and they count,” President Ruto said.
The President said that the fund’s origins date back to the numerous trips that the Kenya Kwanza Alliance leaders made across the country, where Kenyans cited challenges in procuring loans to grow their businesses.
Also read: Hustler or undercover cop? Kenyans question identity of Hustler Fund maize seller
Beneficiaries of the loan will have a 14-day period to repay, and their limit will gradually rise depending on their repayment speed.
A daily rate of 0.002 percent interest is what the government is charging from the borrowers.
The fund is a relief to many Kenyans and small business people waiting to boost their businesses.
According to the government, 95 per cent of the approved fund will be deposited to the borrowers’ line (Safaricom, Airtel, Telkom), while the remaining 5 per cent will be deposited to their savings account scheme of the Hustler Fund.