President William Ruto, on Wednesday, September 28, shared his plan for mobile loan defaulters to create a win-win situation with the digital credit providers.
Speaking at Norfolk hotel, Ruto lauded the plan by credit providers and stakeholders to provide a graduated mechanism as opposed to the blacklisting mechanism currently in use.
He expressed confidence that about 4 to 5 million Kenyans, who were otherwise locked out, would be able to access more opportunities.
"I am very happy that 4 and 5 million Kenyans will by beginning November will be out of blacklisting. These Kenyans have been excluded from any formal borrowing and have been left at the mercy of shylocks and predatory lenders
The president however affirmed that he was not against credit listing platforms but added that they would work together to provide a platform that favours all stakeholders and does not sideline a section of people.
"The government is not against credit listing In fact we support CRBs as a mechanism. What we are asking is we don't want credit listing to be an all-or-nothing. We want it to be a platform where everyone is doing their best. Instead of people being in or out there is a credit rank where people can rise," he stated.
"Instead of blacklisting, we can have a graduated mechanism. That happens even when we borrow money from IMF so it is a positive development for Kenyans," he added.
The Head of State tasked Cabinet Secretary nominee for Treasury, Njuguna Ndungu and his ICT counterpart, Eliud Owalo to work with other stakeholders to develop a product where a hustler can also have access to credit at single-digit interest rate.
- The assignment I give them is to work with you and develop a product where a hustler can also have access to credit at single digit interest rate and I am willing to work with you in a public-private partnership so that we can mitigate some of the factors that come in lending to that category of Kenyans."
"This means that the common mwananchi can double or triple their interest rates. This is the future we're looking at. In this space, we should also find the model that encourages savings. Borrowing functions best when we have savings," he stated.
His words were echoed by NCBA CEO, John Gachora, who noted that their mandate is to enhance the relationship between digital credit providers and Credit Reference Bureaus (CRBs).
"Today we wish to express our intentions to work with our partner and other stakeholders and indeed with the government to develop a collaborative mechanism to repair the credit histories of these customers. Specific mechanisms for credit repair and indeed access to credit will be communicated before November 1, 2022."
Safaricom CEO Peter Ndegwa had announced a discount of up to 40 per cent on daily services charged on Fuliza.
"Customers will also enjoy Fuliza free of the daily maintenance fee for transactions below Ksh1,000 within the first three days. This is the true goal of empowering customers to complete transactions."
"In addition, we're reducing the daily maintenance fee by 50 percent for Fuliza transactions over Ksh1,000. Customers will also reductions in daily maintenance fee transactions above Ksh1,000 up to a maximum of Ksh70,000," he stated.
Here is the full discount rates: Safaricom Announces Fuliza Discount
