Kenya, just the way Hon. Musalia Mudavadi used to tell us during the political campaign times, is a Fuliza country.
The ugliest part of it is that it is now more of a Fuliza country now under Mudavadi’s backed regime than it was under the previous regime that Mudavadi was castigating then.
Today, almost everybody with a smart phone has a loan application installed in the phone. Not only those with the smartphones, but also those without… In every small center, there are a clique of two to five – or so – people who have come out to be lending people some petty cash with an exorbitant interest rates upon refund.
To be honest, these people are worse than auctioneers. They make Mudavadi’s definition of Kenya being a Fuliza country more real. Why do I say so? A mobile loan application once installed, in the phone, will require almost every available document, and details, one has ever had in his life. For you to be able to access some loan. The moment the loan matures for your collection, you are required to have a good number of guarantors for you to finally have it. That is the beginning and the simplest stage with the loaning ‘company’.
Let’s assume that you wanted to borrow twenty thousand (Ksh. 20,000) from them. (It is also good to note that they will never give you the exact amount that you wanted; I don’t know why). The days for the repayment of their loan is well specified in the list of their terms and conditions. The problem comes when you’ve defaulted even with a single day!
Some of the casualties of these mobile loans recently said that, “Wanakupea for instance you borrow 10k unpewa 7k and within 7days u r suppose to pay their 10k meaning their interest is 3k in a week,” Loosely translated as (If you had asked for Sh. 10,000, they’ll instead give you Sh. 7,000 – and within seven days, they’ll start demanding for their Sh. 10,000. That means that they want to make an interest of Sh. 3,000 per week, per person).
That is just the tip off an ice berg. Worse are being swept under the carpet by a sheer fact that they aren’t being reported to any second party. Actually, many Kenyans, even after having disparaged Hustler Fund as being someone’s pyramid scheme, are currently having some nice words for President Ruto’s pet project. A Fuliza country we are, Mudavadi did say, before he saw.
