Cabinet Secretary Amina Mohamed has announced the Higher Education Loans Board is tottering under the weight of Sh7.2 billion unserviced loans. That’s nothing new.
What she prescribes as the solution, however, is wrong and impractical.
Inviting the police to form an army of debt collectors is expensive. The police are already overstretched in maintaining law and order. The fight against corruption and violent criminals is demanding enough.
The ministry should first establish why the loans have not been repaid. Many of the 74,000 indebted ex-students might be very willing to pay, but they have no jobs. Youth unemployment is a time bomb that every politician makes noise about, but they never come up with a durable solution.
Chances are the former students already have their names listed in the dreaded Credit Reference Bureau and cannot qualify for a loan, even if they wanted to borrow and repay Helb. Blacklisting and now arrest can ruin chances of employment.
Arresting defaulters is not the answer. It’s a desperate, ill-thought-out approach to a huge and complicated challenge.
Amina should come up with a more innovative and practical approach to collect the cash to keep the loans kitty ticking.
Quote of the Day: “Education is the passport to the future, for tomorrow belongs to those who prepare for it today.”
Malcolm X
The African American Muslim minister and human rights activist died on February 21, 1965.