If you are among the 74,000 Helb defaulters, you could be on the police radar as the Education ministry intensifies efforts to track Sh7.2 billion .
Education CS Amina Mohamed yesterday said the Higher Education Loans Board (Helb) will ask police to track down those whose loans are at least 10 years overdue — 74,000.
Law enforcement will also track down borrowers working in the Jua Kali and other informal sectors.
Amina spoke on Wednesday when she launched Helb’s five-year strategic plan at a Nairobi hotel.
“We will partner with law enforcement agencies to track down those holding jobs and yet are reluctant to stand up to be counted as responsible and patriotic citizens who honour their debts,” she said.
This will include tracking graduates working in mobile money transfer services such as M-Pesa, Airtel Money and other emerging jobs.
Helb chief executive officer Charles Ringera yesterday said the loans board has only managed to track borrowers in the formal sector.
Ringera said Helb has experienced hard times recovering loans due to unemployment, underemployment, notorious deadbeats and deaths.
“In Garissa University, for example, we lost Sh10 million after the terror attack,” Ringera told the Star yesterday.
“Out of the 147 students killed, 97 were our customers and had been receiving loans annually. We are also receiving reports of about five deaths of students monthly from our universities.”
He said the loans board has now resorted to securing insurance on every loan to ensure no losses are incured in case of deaths.
“We are now deducting about 0.001 per cent from every loan given to students, this is about Sh371 for insurance to insure the loans,” he said.
10,000 to miss loans
The loan board further seeks partnerships with the Immigration department to track those with loans but who have left the country.
“We will be working with the Immigration department, we have mapped our system with passports so we know exactly where you’re headed once you leave the country, so that we can track those with loans,” Ringera said.
Meanwhile, more than 10,000 university students will miss loans to support their education after the Higher Education Loans Board revealed it will not sponsor courses yet to be approved by the regulator.
This decision comes against a backdrop of revelations that 133 courses are being taught in universities without approval of the regulator, the Commission for University Education.
Ringera has termed the courses invalid, saying only students taking accredited courses are eligible to loans. “We can neither fund unaccredited courses nor universities that are not chartered by CUE,” he said.
Ringera said the board relies heavily on Kenya Universities and Colleges Central Placement Service data to fund loan applicants.