A 46-year-old man allegedly committed suicide after auctioneers repossessed his property to finance a loan he had secured.
Reports indicated that Philip Oduor from Muhoroni, Kisumu County, hanged himself over the Ksh 40,000 loan he had borrowed, but struggled to repay.
The man lost his motorcycle to the debt collectors after he failed to service his loan.
Muhoroni OCPD David Njoroge confirmed the incident and added that Oduor may have suffered emotionally when the bike was repossessed on Thursday, November 19.
“He was okay until the creditors claimed that he (Oduor) defaulted on some loan he took to buy the motorbike,” Njoroge affirmed.
His acquaintances added that he was depressed and had kept himself from his family members.
"He took a rope, tied it on the roof of his house and hanged himself," his brother David Opon stated.
A November 2020 report dubbed Indebtness Survey carried out by Collect Pro has revealed that at least 48.5% (almost half) of Kenya's middle-class are unable to service their loans.
The survey targeted 221 households with a Daily Per Capita expenditure of above Ksh 2,187.60, which can therefore be referred to as Upper Middle Class.
According to the Kenya National Bureau of Statistics (KNBS), a Kenyan middle-class person spends between Ksh 23,670 and Ksh 199,999 each month.
The Institute of Economic Affairs (IEA) found that there are about 272,569 middle-class wage employees in Kenya. In the latest indebtedness report, the bulk of the loans (31.2%) for the respondents ranged between Ksh 1 million and Ksh 10 Million.
