The Kenya Human Rights Commission (KHRC) has called for the immediate scrapping of the Hustler Fund, terming it a politically driven and economically flawed initiative that has failed to uplift low-income Kenyans as promised.
In a report released on Monday, August 4, the commission concluded that the fund, launched in November 2022 with a Ksh50 billion capital base, has become a financial burden with minimal developmental impact.
KHRC went on to accuse the government of using the fund to fulfill post-election promises rather than addressing structural economic challenges.
“This is not financial empowerment. It is a loss-making scheme disguised as progress,” the report stated. “Quick money has become dead money.”
According to the report, although over Ksh53 billion had been disbursed by September 2024, there was no evidence to suggest that the fund had stimulated enterprise growth or job creation.
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The initial loan amounts, often as low as Ksh500, were described as too meager to meaningfully support business development. Moreover, the 14-day repayment window was deemed unrealistic for economically vulnerable borrowers.
KHRC further criticized the fund’s design, which deducts five percent from each loan as mandatory savings even before disbursement, reducing the actual usable amount.
The fund’s performance metrics also came under scrutiny. By the end of 2022, KHRC reports a 68.3 percent default rate, noting that for every Ksh500 loan issued, Ksh340 was effectively unrecoverable.
“There is a growing perception that the Fund is a political reward for voting, and therefore repayment is optional,” KHRC warned. “This perception threatens the Fund’s credibility and undermines public accountability.”
Efforts to reform the fund, the report argues, would be insufficient to address its underlying flaws.
“The evidence leads to a singular and inescapable conclusion that the Hustler Fund has failed and should be scrapped."
