A Member of Parliament wants students to begin repaying their higher education loans after getting employed.
Igembe South MP Paul Mwirigi has proposed amendments to the Higher Education Loans Board Act to ensure beneficiaries are not fined before they get jobs.
Currently, besides interests, beneficiaries are charged Sh5,000 per month in penalties for non-payment within a year of completing a course.
Mwirigi wants the situation changed, saying a relatively small percentage of graduates secure employment within one year upon graduation.
“This amendment is meant to cushion unemployed graduates from being charged interest on the loan before they have secured employment,” the MP said in his memorandum on the bill.
Mwirigi thus wants Section 15 of the law amended to include the phrase “after securing employment”.
Students are required to inform Helb of their contact address and begin repayment of the loan together with any interest accumulated.
If he or she is in formal employment, they should authorise the employer to deduct an amount for loan repayment and remit it to the board in such a manner as the board may direct.
At the moment, Helb provides loans from Sh40,000 to Sh60,000 for university and TVET students.
In 2019, it issued a notice to Kenyans to service their loans, failing which they would be named, shamed and sued.
“Please, note that the names and photos of Helb loan recipients who have not repaid the loan to date will be published in major newspapers,” its notice read.
However, Embakasi East MP Babu Owino dismissed the notice, saying publishing the names and photos of Kenyans in newspapers would be a breach of their right to privacy.
“In my own thinking, the loan should not be paid because education is a fundamental human right as envisaged in the Constitution. The government has a right to educate its citizens,” Owino said.
“It is a breach of the privacy of Kenyan citizens to publish their names in a newspaper. I have already spoken to lawyers who are going to file an injunction to ensure that Helb will not publish the names and photos of defaulters because it is not their mistake not to pay the loan.”
The Building Bridges Initiative report recommended the repayment grace period be extended to four years from the date of completion of studies. Helb recipients will have more time to start repaying if the proposal is approved by Parliament.
Kenya University Students’ Association leaders had proposed a seven-year period for loan clearance to Garissa Senator Yusuf Haji-led BBI team. Haji died and was buried on Monday.
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