Loans of exploitation: How the rich entities milk the poor mercilessly

By Mwalimu Kioko

Owing to the poor economic state across the country, the Kenyan poor has become increasingly vulnerable. He/she has become an easy target by the get-rich-fast machinery orchestrated by the rich.

It's shocking that some of these exploiters are heavyweights in the business world of Kenya. Our leaders are either beneficiaries, complicit or utterly ignorant on the swindling met out on the poor.

Myriad of loans of exploitation are advanced to the poor and this has become a multimillion industry that is churning out millionaires on one hand and millions of paupers on the other hand. Just to mention but a few;

1. Digital lenders e.g Mshwari, KCB Mpesa, Tala etc. charge an average of 8%p.m. This translates to 96%p.a.

2. Safaricom's fuliza @ 1% per day translating to 365%p.a.

3. Safaricom's Okoa Jahazi and Airtel's. Kopa @ 10% one off. Since most people pay within a day it means that the investment set aside by these companies towards this segment earns 10%returns per day translating to 3650%p.a from the sweat (or is it blood) of the desperate Kenyan poor.

4.Shylocks are ruthless. Their story is well known to Kenyans. 

Interestingly, the poor have also come up with table-banking concept as a desperate attempt to access credit. It is not making things rosy either.

It's charges of 10% upwards p.m is similarly exploitative. Some of them will argue that the profit comes back to them.

This is akin to robbing one hand to give the other....it makes no economic sense.

But I understand it is out the need for credit that someone crafted that crazy idea. No business can operate with such expensive credit and break even not unless it operates in the black market.

The government with the mandate of our leaders has allowed this exploitation to continue. 

The poor need easy, cheap and realistic credit to do business. Otherwise, the gap between the poor and the rich keeps on widening as our leaders watch helplessly.