MPs Sound Alarm as Sh12.6 Billion Hustler Fund Faces Total Loss

A brewing financial scandal has engulfed Parliament as legislators raise red flags over the possible loss of Sh12.6 billion in taxpayers’ money advanced through the controversial Hustler Fund programme, with demands now mounting for a special audit to uncover what happened to the cash.

In explosive revelations before the Special Funds Accounts Committee of the National Assembly, Hustler Fund CEO Henry Tanui admitted that of the Sh14 billion allocated to the fund, a paltry Sh1.4 billion remains in circulation, leaving MPs stunned and questioning whether the remaining Sh12.6 billion has vanished into thin air.

The shocking disclosure has triggered panic among lawmakers who fear the massive sum, enough to construct 12 kilometres of highway or educate 566,000 secondary school students for a year, may never be recovered from borrowers who have simply disappeared after taking loans.

“Let’s just call a spade a spade. If the Treasury has allocated you Sh14 billion so far and only Sh1.4 billion is revolving, then we can say that the money is lost,” declared Mwingi West MP Charles Nguna, his voice heavy with frustration during the heated committee session.

The mood in the committee room turned hostile as MPs watched the Hustler Fund boss fumble through explanations, failing to provide basic documentation on who borrowed the billions and whether any realistic hope exists of getting the money back.

Committee chairperson Fatuma Mohammed, the Migori Woman Representative, didn’t mince words in her assessment of the CEO’s performance.

“Appearing here with no query answered is a mockery to the committee. This is an oversight committee. When you say no money was lost, I think you do not live in this country,” she thundered, her exasperation evident as Tanui offered vague assurances without concrete evidence.

The situation appears far worse than initially thought. MPs heard disturbing accounts of Kenyans who deliberately gamed the system, registering new phone lines to access loans with absolutely no intention of ever repaying a single shilling.

“I personally know of people who registered new lines to access the loans but they have since blocked the numbers and don’t plan on repaying the same,” MP Nguna revealed, painting a picture of systematic fraud that the government appears powerless to stop.

North Imenti MP Rahim Dawood went further, directly accusing the fund’s management of misappropriation and suggesting that the frequent changes in leadership at the fund are a deliberate strategy to hide wrongdoing from investigators.

“The press even reports that of the people who took the loans of the Hustler Fund, many are not known, and cannot be followed up. That’s why I say this money has been misappropriated. It has been lost. And if you cannot recover it, what is the point?” Dawood demanded, his questions hanging unanswered in the tense atmosphere.

The second-term legislator has now called for Auditor-General Nancy Gathungu to launch a special forensic audit of the entire Hustler Fund operation, a move that could expose what many MPs privately believe is one of the biggest financial disasters in recent government history.

“If you only have Sh1.4 billion rotating, do you have the other Sh12 billion in your accounts? Because it seems the Hustler Fund, to hide things, removes people from the office. After three or six months, you will be gone, and somebody else will come. And I think that is what is happening,” Dawood charged, suggesting a pattern of cover-ups.

Despite the mounting evidence of disaster, CEO Tanui maintained an increasingly unconvincing defence, insisting that borrowed money is not stolen money and that recovery mechanisms are in place, though he conspicuously failed to detail what those mechanisms actually are.

“Members, money borrowed is not money stolen. Some of these funds are with your constituents and what I have done is put in place measures to recoup the money,” Tanui claimed, but his words rang hollow as MPs pressed him for specifics he couldn’t provide.

The CEO’s claim that all borrowers are registered using their identity card numbers and can be traced did little to calm the storm, particularly when he admitted he was too new in office to provide the documents MPs had repeatedly requested showing exactly who borrowed what.

The committee has now summoned Cooperatives and MSMEs Cabinet Secretary Wycliffe Oparanya and Principal Secretary Susan Mangeni to personally account for the fund’s operations, a development that signals Parliament’s loss of confidence in lower-level officials to explain the crisis.

The timing of this scandal couldn’t be worse for ordinary Kenyans already reeling from economic hardship. The Sh12.6 billion that may be lost forever represents resources desperately needed elsewhere, from schools facing capitation funding crises to infrastructure projects that could create thousands of jobs.

A recent report by the Kenya Human Rights Commission labelled the Hustler Fund as structurally flawed, economically unsound, and a politically motivated initiative that has catastrophically failed to empower the citizens it was meant to uplift, lending credibility to MPs’ worst fears.

As the investigation deepens, one question haunts the corridors of Parliament: how did a government programme meant to help struggling Kenyans turn into what increasingly looks like a Sh12.6 billion black hole of missing taxpayer money, and will anyone be held accountable for this potential disaster?

The committee has given officials seven days to produce complete documentation of all borrowers, their contacts, and identification details.

What those documents reveal, or fail to reveal, could determine whether this scandal becomes the defining financial catastrophe of the current administration.​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​