The Higher Education Loans Board (HELB) has strongly denied reports circulating on social media alleging plans to freeze the bank accounts of over 316,000 graduates who have defaulted on their student loans.
In an update posted on Sunday, June 8, HELB dismissed the claims as baseless and warned Kenyans against falling victim to misleading information.
“Relax, your bank account is safe! That viral post saying HELB is freezing accounts? Pure fiction and misinformation! Let’s not stress over fake news. Check HELB’s official page for the real tea,” the agency stated.
The clarification follows a widely shared social media post suggesting HELB intended to recover Ksh35 billion by targeting the bank accounts of defaulters, pending approval from Parliament.
This development echoes a similar case involving the Hustler Fund. A few months ago, Elizabeth Nkukuu, the acting CEO of the Financial Inclusion Fund, told lawmakers that the government was considering tapping into the M-Pesa accounts of Kenyans who owe the state Ksh7 billion through the Hustler Fund.
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Appearing before the National Assembly’s Special Funds Account Committee on October 2, 2024, Nkukuu said: “What we are looking at is to get money from their M-Pesa or airtime, we are in the process of considering appropriate legal provisions. The beauty of this Fund is that we have the phone numbers and unique identifiers of the defaulters, including their national IDs. They are people of means, they are people who don’t want to repay,” she said.
Nkukuu also added that the government was at a dead end in trying to recover the unpaid loans, noting that more than 13 million Kenyans had borrowed from the Hustler Fund but failed to repay.
The government has since clarified that any planned recovery actions will remain within the confines of the law.
In a separate statement, PS Susan Mang’eni of the State Department for MSMEs and Development said: “The default recovery measures under consideration will be in line with laws of Kenya and particularly in strict adherence to data protection laws. The Hustler Fund Service providers’ partners’ role remains the provision of technology.
We wish to assure Kenyans that the government remains committed to adhering to data protection laws, and the default recovery measures will be within the law,” the statement read in part.
By Joseph Mambili
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