KHRC Report Exposes Deep Financial Losses in Hustler Fund, Calls It a “Loss-Making Scheme”
A new report by the Kenya Human Rights Commission (KHRC) has raised serious concerns over the effectiveness and sustainability of the Hustler Fund, President William Ruto’s flagship financial empowerment program. The report, titled “Failing the Hustlers,” claims that for every Ksh500 loaned to Kenyans through the fund, Ksh340 has been lost, representing a staggering 68.3% default rate.
Launched in November 2022 with an initial capital of Ksh50 billion, the Hustler Fund was positioned as a lifeline for low-income Kenyans under the government’s bottom-up economic model. However, the KHRC now argues that the initiative is deeply flawed both in design and execution, describing it as a program “disguised as progress” but riddled with structural and financial weaknesses.
According to the commission, by the end of 2022, the high default rate had already rendered over 71.5% of the loans functionally unrecoverable. KHRC’s financial analysis further reveals that when factoring in the 8.2% Treasury bill rate, representing the government’s cost of borrowing, alongside a legally mandated 3% operational cost, taxpayers are bearing a total loss of approximately Ksh358 for every Ksh500 loaned.
“This is not financial empowerment. It is a loss-making scheme disguised as progress. Quick money has become dead money,” reads the report.
In May this year, Cooperatives and MSMEs Cabinet Secretary Wycliffe Oparanya revealed that the fund had disbursed Ksh70 billion since its inception. Based on KHRC’s estimates, the losses borne by taxpayers may be as high as Ksh50 million per day.
The report also raises legal red flags, citing the fund’s launch without an oversight board as a direct violation of the law. This lack of governance, the commission states, contributed to the fund’s current inefficiencies and deep-rooted problems.
KHRC has dismissed the idea that reforms could salvage the program. “Technical tweaks cannot fix its design, political, and legal flaws,” the report asserts.
Despite ongoing concerns, Principal Secretaries Susan Mang’eni (MSMEs Development) and Patrick Kilemi (Cooperatives) have defended the fund and lobbied for more allocations. However, their push was recently rejected by lawmakers, signaling diminishing political goodwill toward the initiative.
As debate around the Hustler Fund continues, KHRC’s findings are likely to intensify public scrutiny over one of the Kenya Kwanza government’s most high-profile programs.
 has raised serious concerns over the effectiveness and sustainability of the Hustler Fund, President William Ruto’s flagship financial empowerment program. The report, titled “Failing the Hustlers,” claims that for every Ksh500 loaned to Kenyans through the fund, Ksh340 has been lost, representing a staggering 68.3% default rate.){kind=link}