The 'Hustler' Fund – Kenya's Approach to National Transformation [analysis]
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A so-called 'hustlers' narrative, clothed in the language of 'bottom-up approach', was central to the recent political campaigns and the manifesto of the newly elected Kenya government. It continues to feature prominently in their public speeches since their assumption into top office. The term 'hustler' draws from what the new Kenya president, Dr
Speaking to Kenyans who 'hustle' in the informal economy, the new Kenya government is, however, pursuing a series of social protection and financial inclusion interventions. These, the government believes, will address the underlying problems facing the 'hustler' economy. The most prominent of these interventions is the government's attempt to ease access to credit. According to the president, credit is 'a magic formula' that will stir economic growth among 'hustlers' and feed into the broader government agenda of national transformation. A range of efforts have been made - from advising lenders against blacklisting of debtors, to calls for credit scoring systems and successfully convincing the country's giant mobile money network
The government's move to enhance 'hustlers' access to credit has been viewed as a possible 'game changer' of Kenya's economic growth and development. Indeed, research shows that the informal economy is central to the country's economic transformation and millions of ordinary citizens depend on it for their livelihoods. However, while credit is seen to be a motivation for entrepreneurialism and risk-taking that would enhance the poor's economic condition through giving people capital to expand or diversify their hustling activities, it is important to understand the context in which the new push for credit intervention occurs.
The credit and debt situation in
Research has reported that a majority of ordinary Kenyans are in debt, a perpetual debt to be precise. This situation is as a result of, first, the proliferation of digital lending apps by fintech companies such as Tala and Branch, and mobile money technologies such as
The provision of credit through the 'hustler' fund, therefore, joins a flood of credit facilities that are already making claims on the future labour of millions of ordinary Kenyans. As research shows, digital lending technology through mobile apps is both enslaving and colonizing (subjugating/taking control of) the future of many Kenyans. The stress over their inability to pay these loans has created a volatile environment where people have mortgaged their future income. This situation entails a heady mix of crises such as high costs of living - food, healthcare, fuel, rent, education - and the poor's ever growing dependence on already personal networks. The terrain has become what anthropologists
Credit or public services?
This situation of large-scale and out-of-control indebtedness should prompt the government to rethink its approach to entrepreneurship as key to national development and poverty alleviation. The government's move to ease access to credit may open up some opportunities for some people in the short term. However, easing access to credit, which many Kenyans end up using to pay for basic necessities, while financing public services, merely shifts responsibility onto individuals, many of whom will not be able to cope and may sink further into debt. Romanticizing the relationship between credit, entrepreneurship and development in the current Kenya context is false hope for the country's poor. It suggests the government understands the problems of millions of Kenyans in a narrow way and masks the real broader public issues facing many Kenyan citizens. Kenya is already experiencing the fastest inflation in five years with high unemployment, climate crisis and increasing rates of chronic diseases such as cancer.
Conclusion
Writing in the context of
Dr Jacinta Victoria S Muinde is a Social Anthropologist at the
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