NAIROBI, Kenya, Aug 11 — The State Department for Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises has hit back at former Deputy President Rigathi Gachagua’s description of the Hustler Fund as a “lost cause”, pointing to high uptake and repayment rates in his home county of Nyeri.

📻 Breaking It Down

The State Department said Tuesday that 420,000 Kenyans in Nyeri County have accessed the Financial Inclusion Fund, popularly known as the Hustler Fund, borrowing a cumulative Sh1.88 billion.

It said the figure represents more than half of Nyeri County’s population.

The department also cited individual borrowing figures to demonstrate the extent to which the fund has been utilised in the county, saying the top borrower in Nyeri has cumulatively accessed Sh2.06 million.

📌 What You Need to Know

In Mathira Constituency, the top borrower has accessed Sh648,000, while the top borrower in Ruguru Ward has accessed Sh584,000.

Nyeri, according to the State Department, also has the highest Hustler Fund repayment rate in the country at 88 per cent, followed by Murang’a, Kiambu and Nairobi at 87 per cent.

The figures were released shortly after Gachagua delivered a scathing assessment of President William Ruto’s four years in office, in which he criticised the flagship credit programme.

Gachagua calls Ruto presidency ‘imperial’, labels Hustler Fund a ‘lost cause’

Gachagua said the Kenya Kwanza administration had promised to establish a Sh50 billion fund to provide affordable credit to mama mbogas, boda boda operators, mkokoteni operators and other small-scale entrepreneurs.

He questioned the effectiveness of the programme, saying it had reportedly disbursed Sh87 billion to 28 million people.

📰 Source: Capital FM Kenya