The Kenya Human Rights Commission (KHRC) has issued a scathing indictment of the Hustler Fund, branding it a politically expedient project that has failed to deliver meaningful economic relief to the very people it was meant to empower.
In a new report titled “Failing the Hustlers,” the KHRC concludes that the Sh50 billion credit scheme, launched in 2022 as a pillar of President William Ruto’s bottom-up economic transformation agenda, is structurally flawed, fiscally irresponsible, and legally compromised.
While more than Sh53 billion had been disbursed by late 2024, the report notes that the loan amounts, typically between Sh500 and Sh1000 for first-time borrowers, were “too little and too short term” to support sustainable business growth.
A mandatory five per cent savings deduction further eroded the already meagre loans, locking borrowers into a cycle of debt.
With a 68.3 per cent default rate recorded by the end of 2022, KHRC calculates that for every Sh500 issued, the government effectively loses Sh340. When interest and operating costs are factored in, the total loss to the taxpayer could exceed 70 per cent per loan.
“This is not financial inclusion, it is a debt trap disguised as empowerment,” the report asserts.
Further criticism was directed at governance failures, including delayed formation of an oversight board, poor audit trails, and opaque disbursement criteria.
KHRC alleges the Fund served more as a political reward than a development tool, with rollout closely linked to post-election campaign promises.
“The Hustler Fund is not just ineffective, it is irredeemable,” KHRC concluded, urging the government to shut it down entirely and redirect resources toward more accountable and impactful economic interventions.
