10 million Hustler Fund borrowers missing as MPs slam push for more taxpayer funding

The State Department for Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs) has revealed that Hustler Fund borrowers who have since disappeared owe a total of Sh6 billion in unpaid loans.

Appearing before the National Assembly’s Committee on Trade, Industry and Cooperatives, MSMEs Principal Secretary Susan Auma Mang’eni said the amount was borrowed by approximately 10 million Kenyans, and the department might have to write off this amount if recovery efforts fail.

“About 10 million Kenyans borrowed about Sh500 (each) in November and end of December 2022 and never repaid. We are tracing them, and if we cannot recover the money, we will be considering a write-off of about Sh6 billion for individuals who borrowed and vanished. But we are not at the write-off stage at this moment because we are pursuing defaulters,” Mang’eni told the committee on Tuesday.

She explained that of the 25.8 million Kenyans enrolled in the Hustler Fund, nine million are good borrowers who have consistently repaid their loans since the fund’s inception in 2022.

The fund initially allowed individuals to borrow up to Sh50,000 for 14 days at an annual interest rate of eight per cent. The terms have since improved for loyal and repeat borrowers.

Despite the looming write-off, the government is now seeking an additional Sh5 billion from Parliament to sustain the Hustler Fund’s operations.

The request comes at a time when concerns are mounting over accountability and the effectiveness of the fund, which is one of President William Ruto’s flagship initiatives aimed at supporting low-income Kenyans through access to credit, savings, insurance, and investment products.

Defending the department’s 2025/26 financial year budget, Mang’eni told MPs that the allocation for the Hustler Fund, also referred to as the Financial Inclusion Fund, had been reduced from Sh2 billion to Sh1 billion in the latest Budget Policy Statement (BPS).

“The Financial Inclusion Fund (Hustler Fund) requires Sh5 billion but was only allocated Sh1 billion,” she said.

“The experience of the fund so far has demonstrated a rich database of 25 million Kenyan beneficiaries with increasing and differential financial inclusion needs, which requires that we keep innovating, developing and deploying bottom-of-the-pyramid financial services and products that are affordable, accessible and appropriate for the unserved and under-served persons, including credit, saving, insurance premiums and investment products.”

However, her request for more funds was met with sharp criticism from MPs who questioned the rationale of injecting more taxpayer money into a fund struggling with recoveries.

“Why should we allocate you additional Sh5 billion from taxpayers when people have run away with billions of shillings from the Hustler Fund?” the committee’s vice chairperson, Maryanne Keitany, asked.

“If Sh6 billion is unrecoverable, why should we add you another Sh5 billion? People in my constituency told me that the Sh500 or more that they borrowed was a ‘thank you gift’ from the government they voted for and that they will not refund the loan.”

Committee chairperson Bernard Shinali also demanded a proper explanation from the PS, questioning how a revolving fund of Sh65.5 billion had failed to recover Sh6 billion.

Kajiado South MP Samuel Parashina and Machakos Woman Representative Joyce Kemene expressed similar concerns, urging the ministry to reconsider how it finances its programmes.

Other Topics To Read

• National
• Hustler Fund
• Financial Inclusion Fund
• State Department for MSMEs
• Hustler Fund borrowers
• Hustler Fund defaulters
• Susan Auma Mang’eni
• 10 million Hustler Fund borrowers missing as MPs slam push for more taxpayer funding
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“If people have borrowed and vanished, who will refund the lost public money? We have never been satisfied as lawmakers with the Hustler Fund,” Parashina said.

“Take the Hustler Fund to finance your other projects like Kenya Jobs Economic Transformation (KJET) and National Youth Opportunities Towards Advancement (Nyota) because there is a lot of conman-ship and theft in the Hustler Fund and we can’t continue funding it.”

In response, Mang’eni outlined some of the progress and future plans tied to the Hustler Fund. She said that the department had disbursed Sh65.7 billion since inception, out of which Sh53.2 billion had been repaid.

She also revealed that the ministry is integrating an insurance premium financing product into the fund’s platform to allow borrowers to finance annual Social Health Authority (SHA) premiums within their existing limits, an initiative aimed at supporting universal health care.

“This expanded need will require enhanced capital to meet the new demand for credit as we roll out,” she explained.

“We are also in discussions with the State Department for Housing towards co-creating a product for affordable housing to unlock home ownership opportunities for proven Hustler Fund good borrowers.”

The PS also disclosed that the Nyota programme had already been integrated into the Hustler Fund platform, which now serves as a “one-stop shop” for socio-economic empowerment initiatives.

“We therefore humbly request for reinstatement of our budgetary requirement of Sh5 billion to enable us meet the increasing demand for innovative financial products. We therefore request for the additional funding of Sh4 billion,” Mang’eni appealed.

In the 2025/26 financial year, the Treasury has allocated Sh5.59 billion to the State Department for MSMEs. Of this, Sh1.83 billion is for recurrent expenditure and Sh3.76 billion has been earmarked for development projects.