Ruto insists Hustler Fund is successful, terms critics as 'merchants of doom'

Speaking during a roundtable with the private sector in Nairobi, President Ruto took issue with those who have been disputing the success of the Fund, even terming it a failed plan.

A brazen Ruto maintained that the empowerment initiative has disbursed over Ksh.72 billion to 26 million Kenyans, mobilised over Ksh.5 billion in savings, and provided vital working capital to millions of micro-entrepreneurs.

He maintained that the fund has significantly benefited small businesses through micro-loans, urging Kenyans not to buy into their ill rhetoric.

"Our critics - the naysayers, the perpetual pessimists, the chorus that never sees anything working in Kenya - would have you believe that the Hustler Fund is a total failure," he said.

"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."

President Ruto argued that the alleged 60% default rate is spreading falsehood and "a deliberate distortion of facts".

"The truth - backed by data - is that the Hustler Fund has a recovery rate of 83.3%, nearly identical to that of the formal banking sector, whose repayment rate stands at 83.6%."

A report by the Kenya Human Rights Commission (KHRC) warned that the programme is a recipe for financial failure as it lacks a sustainable plan to empower Kenyans at the bottom of the pyramid, as earlier intended. 

President Ruto maintained that he will not allow distraction from "the merchants of doom and negativity" and will remain committed in creating effective reforms.

The KHRC report has been met with harsh ridicule from the ruling administration, as Co-operatives and Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs) Development Cabinet Secretary (CS) 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," he said.

The KHRC report, named ‘Failing the Hustlers’, indicates a 68% default rate, where “for every Ksh.500 loan disbursed, Ksh.340 is effectively lost.” 

KHRC 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. 

The KHRC further argues that the defaulting rate began to steadily rise in December 2022, as 40.7% of the borrowers failed to pay the loan by December 14, 2022, 47.5% by December 15, 52.2% by December 16 and 68.3% by December 20, 2022.