Agency wants Chapter Six of the Constitution that has seen recoveries grow by 247pc extended to private sector to shore up funding

Kenya: Kenyans seeking employment in the private sector may soon be required to present clearance certificates from the Higher Education Loans Board (HELB) to potential employers. This comes as the board seeks to have the existing provisions in Chapter Six of the Constitution replicated in the private sector.

The Chapter requires public service job applicants to have cleared their HELB loans before being employed.

“Chapter Six has worked wonders for our recoveries in the public sector and since it was put in place, we have seen recoveries grow by 247 per cent,” explained HELB Chief Executive Charles Ringera yesterday at a press briefing in Nairobi.

“We want to take this to the private sector as well and some of the human resource managers are coming on board. Some have made it a policy but others are yet to have it in place.”

Fresh graduates

If rolled out across the private sector, job applicants might find themselves disadvantaged, particularly fresh graduates who are yet to be financially stable enough to repay loans.

“There is a misconception that one has to be employed in order to start making repayments of their HELB loan and we would like to dispel this notion because nowhere does it say so,” explained Ringera. “What we are supposed to do is give the student a one-year grace period after which, whatever their situation, whether they are tarmacking, in employment or in business, they need to start making repayment.”

The position has however put the board at loggerheads with university student bodies, which say it is unfair to expect unemployed graduates to remit money while they are yet to start earning. The board in its defence said loan repayments do not correspond with the demand that comes from the rising number of students in need of financing, forcing the board to seek funds from other sources.

HELB has also embarked on a charm offensive to establish partnerships with devolved units, where counties deposit education grants for students in their constituencies to be managed by HELB. “We are now working with counties and we have just completed about five counties, all providing between Sh20 and Sh30 million year on year for the students coming from their respective counties,” he explained.

“We have about seven constituencies, which have deposited about Sh12 million and what we are doing is to complement what is coming from the revolving fund and the Government because it is not enough.”

Helb has also secured funding from external donors towards specific institutions and areas of study that Ringera hopes will plug the deficit. “USAID has also given us Sh100 million which will go towards funding the training of nurses through their Funzo Kenya initiative and we hope we shall have other donors and development partners come on board,” he stated.

The board is also in talks with the National construction Authority to create a revolving fund for training painters and masons with aseed capital of Sh100 million.