Senate wants Watu credit probed over suspicious loss of motorbikes

A Senate committee wants Watu Credit Limited investigated over complaints of exploitation and suspicious loss of motorbikes sold to boda boda operators by the credit company.

The comes after members of the Senate Trade and Industrialisation Committee cast doubts on the activities of the company.

The senators also demanded that Police IG Japhet Koome to appear before it to shed more light on why the motorbikes issued by the firm disappeared without any trace.

This follows numerous complaints from the firm’s customers who petitioned the Senate over rampant theft of motorcycles purchased from the company.

Raising the alarm, Nandi Senator Samson Cherargei said there was no way motorbikes from the firm would suddenly get stolen soon after customers complete the payments despite being fitted with trackers.

He said the company did not provide any evidence to the committee that they have reported any cases of theft of their motorbikes.

“We are curious to know how the motorcycles are stolen yet they have trackers. Who disables these trackers? They have not provided anything to show they have reported cases of theft of their motorbikes,” Cherargei said.

Alleging foul play, his Uasin Gishu Senator Jackson Mandago also questioned why a majority of the stolen motorbikes are ones whose payments are almost complete.

“It looks like people are working under the Watu Credit tracking system who give out the information,” he said.

Senator Cherargei questioned why the company is quick to resell repossessed motorbikes from defaulting customers.

He said a special committee should be formed to investigate the activities of the Pan-African asset financing company.

“I have more than 300 people willing to testify on this issue. I propose we form a special committee to look into this matter,” he said.

The firm was also taken to task by the committee chaired by Kajiado Senator Seki Lenku over exorbitant interest rates of 6 per cent per month.

“This interesting thing is where there is exploitation. This means that if a motorbike is retailing at Sh150,000 then they will pay more than Sh300,000 at the end of the hire purchase term,” said Lenku.

Defending themselves, Watu Credit chief executive officer Andris Kaneps said their firm is majorly on the radar because almost 70 per cent of motorcycles sold on hire purchase in the country are financed by them making the probability high.

He said they have been able to finance more than 500,000 motorbikes making their market share the biggest in the country.

“Motorcycle theft is a rampant problem countrywide but a few cases are taken out of context. More than 50 per cent of motorbikes stolen are less than six months old as the thieves don’t like old motorcycles,” Kaneps said.

To curb the rampant cases, he called for the establishment of boda boda police to address the insecurity problems

The CEO proposed the formation of a motorcycle police unit to be tasked with enforcing traffic rules, handling criminal case reporting and conducting community sensitisation efforts.

On exploitative interest rate, Mr Kaneps said customers only pay 50 per cent more in the hire purchase arrangement.

“If a customer can give us more collateral security then this reduces the interest rate by 70 per cent because we operate on a risk-based approach. The lower the risk, the lower the interest rate,” he said.

He, however, told the committee that they are piloting a flexible interest rate arrangement at 1.6 per cent per month to match the realities of the economy.

On repossession of the assets, he said that is the last resort as they give its customers ample time and options to regularise their accounts before repossession.

“We operate with zero or minimum repossession because our target is to empower our customers. We have been very tolerant with them and repossession only happens to customers who are not collaborating with us,” Watu Credit Country Manager Erick Massawe said.