Kenyan Gov’t goes after Kes7.2Bn held by 74,000 Helb loan defaulters

The Kenyan government through the ministry of education is intensifying efforts to find loan defaulters and the employers who assist them, deploying agents to examine reams of viable information as it seeks to recover in excess of Sh7.2billion.

On Wednesday, Kenya’s Education minister Amina Mohamed said the High Education Loans Board (Helb) will begin tracking down over 74,000 beneficiaries of the State-backed fund manager to recover the billions of shillings.

About 53 per cent of Helb budget is funded by Kenya’s exchequer and 47 percent from loan recovery.

Ms. Mohamed said this would be achieved in partnership with employers, telecommunication firms as well as other government agencies to recover the funds meant to aid new learners’ higher education.

“We will go for them and we want employers and telecommunications firms to help as well,” she said during the launch of Helb’s five-year strategic plan that aims to raise Sh90.7billion over the target period, which would be an improvement from Sh74billion it raised in the previous five-year plan.