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By:
Harrison Maina | |||||||||
| Posted:
Jun,16-2019 12:16:37
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Three top officials of Kenya's Higher education Loans Board (HELB) arrived in Boston today with a package of an 80% discounted diaspora waiver on unpaid bad loans of more than Kenya shillings 6.6 billion accrued over the years by 64,000 former university students since 1974. The officials, led by HELB Board Chairman, RHT Hon.Ekwe Ethuro, CEO Charles Ringera and Debt Management Officer Lawrence Mwirigi will be engaging with Kenyans at the 2 day Kenya Diaspora Sacco Annual General meeting event that kicked off today at the Radisson Hotel in Chelmsford near Lowell ending with a Madaraka day celebrations tomorrow night. Outgoing Kenyan Ambassador, H.E Robinson Njeru Githae is also expected to give a key note address at the event held annually at different cities across USA. According to the officials, Helb is struggling from the massive amount of non-performing loans at a time when demand for higher education has grown exponentially in Kenya to include financing of students in TVET colleges. They said that many loan defaulters have remained untraceable but recent efforts led to a recovery of 100 million from Kenyans in the Diaspora.
Speaking to Ajabu Media, the officials said that they are excited to return to the Diaspora to offer a new loan repayment waiver to Kenyans in the Diaspora who may have missed the recently ended waiver where 100% penalties were waived off. They said that they have reserved a booth at the Diaspora Sacco meeting where loan holders can discuss their repayment plans after negotiating the 80% waiver of the penalties, pay the agreed sum via the various channels including Send Wave and receive clearance certificates on the spot. "HELB has been extending higher loans to our all needy Kenyan youth who qualify for higher education. It is our joy to see our youths get a good education which empowers them to have good jobs and become self reliant. However, due to the increased number of student joining higher education, we are looking to recover all unpaid loans so we can have enough to extend the same to needy students," said Hon. Ethuro, HELB Chairman. He urged Kenyans who have not yet repaid their university loans to visit the HELB booth over the weekend and find out the status of their loans, and how much they could save under the penalty waiver ending August this year.
Ethuro added that repaying HELB loans is the best idea to help fund the education of relatives back home rather than keep remitting funds to clear tuition and school related expenses. "We are urging Kenyans in the Diaspora who have accumulated HELB debt to take advantage of this waiver to repay and help us HELBto fund children back home. "Let's join hands at empowering their dreams," he urged. HELB CEO Charles Ringera speaking at the conference confirmed that over the last 24 years, HELB has empowered the dreams of more than 820,000 students and disbursed over 90 Billion Kenya Shillings. As at 31st March 2019; 436,892 loan accounts worth Kshs. 52.1Billion had matured for repayment, while 386,091loanees holding Kshs. 37.3 Billion had not matured. A total of 213,601loanees had cleared their loans worth Kshs. 21.4B. Further, a total of 156,198 accounts valued at Kshs. 24.2B are repaying their loans while 67,093loanees holding Kshs. 6.6B are in default. He indicated that the new thinking of Government is to deploy more resources to Technical and Training institutions to students undertaking technical skills. Today HELB is funding students in 142 TVET institutions and over 85 Medical Training Colleges. Clarifying that the economic and financial landscape of Kenyan has improved a lot, HELB CEO Charles Ringera said that all Kenyans nationals wishing to invest or borrow funds anywhere in Kenya are now required to have good credit histories certified by the newly created Credit Reference Bureau (CRB) Law of Kenya that list credit beneficiaries positively or negatively. With a positive credit score one is able to get loans from any financial institution at competitive interest rates since his/her risk profile is low. "Having a defaulted HELB loan can impede your dreams of purchasing a property or borrowing a loan". Ringera, who has been traveling to different US states to bring the loan repayment service closer to Kenyans since 2015 added that the recent waiver extended to loan defaulters saw about 20,000 Kenyans in the diaspora repay their and saved themselves hundreds of thousands of Kenya Shillings in accrued interest. "Depending on when you graduated from a Kenyan public university, your outstanding loan interest and penalties could be in the hundreds of thousands. This is what we are willing to forgive if you pay by end of August this year," said the CEO.
The officials said they now have the technology to process payments live at the booth through different money transfer companies directly to HELB's Account. "We will be processing the transfers on the spot and provide you with a clearance certificate. You can pay by Send-Wave to HELB MPESA account through paybill 200800, Moneygram, Western Union, Poa pay or whichever company you prefer. This will be very efficient and we shall highly appreciate," said Lawrence Mwirigi, HELBs senior debt management officer. After the Boston meeting, the officials will head to Washington DC where they are scheduled for a series of meetings with the USAID, World Bank and IMF , HELB's main funding sources. In DC the team will also pitch tent at the Kenyan Embassy inWashington DC. They will then hold a meeting with Kenyans in the DMV region to extend them an opportunity to repay their loans and take advantage of the 80% waiver. The officials will be available from all day from 8.30am to 11pmat the Radisonn Hotel & suites located at 10 Independence Drive, Chelmsford, MA 01824. To find out how much you currently owe, the officials can be reached directly by phone or WhatsApp text at: (254) 722-246331 (254) 721-985993 For full repayment methods,visit the Helb website at:www.helb.co.ke | |||||||||
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Source:
AJABU AFRICA NEWS
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