A parliamentary committee has summoned Helb chief executive officer Charles Ringera over the agency’s plan to publish the names and photographs of loan defaulters.
Ringera will appear before the Senate Education committee to explain the justification for the proposal to ‘name and shame’ Helb loan defaulters.
Stand-in speaker Johnson Sakaja (Nairobi) directed the Benjamin Langat (Bomet) led committee to immediately and urgently inquire into the matter and table a preliminary report in the House on Thursday.
Last Monday, Helb announced it was planning to publish names and pictures of 85,000 people who have defaulted from 1975 to in a bid to help needy children who need loans.
“Some beneficiaries who are in default have not responded to previous communications…. Therefore sustained default, hinders funding of other deserving Kenyan youth,” the agency said in a statement.
But the senators criticised Helb, terming the move retrogressive and a plot to embarrass, shame and ridicule jobless youth and urged the government to write-off the loans.
“Does HELB have any other better method of recovering loans, because the right to education is a basic right? If you go anywhere in the world, the Government has always participated in tuition fees and ensured that the youth get proper training,” Nandi Senator Samson Cherargei said.
Cherargei said most defaulters are jobless youth who have ‘tarmacked’ for years, adding that shaming them will amount to criminalising joblessness.
“It has to be noted that most young people are unemployed. It is not an omen, but a reality on the ground that many young people are not employed,” he said.
The Senator sought a statement on the floor demanding to know how publishing defaulters’ names will help Helb recover the Sh52.2 billion it is owed.
The Justice and Legal Affairs committee chairman wanted to know what the government has done in line with Article 55 of the Constitution to ensure youth employment and development before taking the proposed action.
Reacting to Cherargei’s statement, Wajir Senator Mohamed Ali criticised the plan to shame defaulters, saying it could propel some jobless youth to resort to criminal activities to repay the loans.
He added that it is the responsibility of the government to provide job opportunities to people who complete higher education to enable them clear the loans.
“When you threaten our graduates that you will splash their photos in the newspapers and everywhere, you are telling them that they have graduated and refused to repay their loans. How will they feel? Where will they go? Are we encouraging our youth to become gangsters?" Ali said.
Nominated Senator Alice Milgo said the government should be compelled to write off loans for youth who stay for more than five years without employment.
“There are many graduates who have been at home for more than 10 years because there is no employment in this country. We have seen old people being appointed to lead institutions several times. How about the youth?" She said.
Makueni Senator Mutula Kilonzo Jnr said, “I have read the Act twice this week and there is no provision anywhere where Helb can publish the names or photographs of defaulters. It is a way of embarrassing and ridiculing persons who, for no fault of their own, have been rendered poor and unemployed due to mismanagement of this country by the government.”
