For Chelugui, it was Hustler farce and bitter coffee

Controversies around the Hustler Fund, and the reforms of the coffee sector that have been brewing for ages, are some of the misses of former Cabinet Secretary Ministry of Co-operatives and Micro Small and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs) Simon Chelugui’s docket.

Just days before the sacking of all CSs, Chelugui was fighting to defend the integrity of President Ruto’s pet project, the Hustler Fund, in the wake of revelations by the Auditor General that loans were being issued above the maximum amount  and to unregistered members.

There are also cases of borrowers who received money before clearing their previous debts, which put to question some Sh162 million disbursements.

There are also close to 130,000 accounts that are closed but holding more than Sh81 million.

During an interview with a television station, Chelugui said some of the issues raised by the Office of the Auditor General were related to teething problems associated with digital products such as Hustler Fund.

These issues, he said, have since been corrected and aligned.

“The fund is safe, sound and secure. We can account for every shilling. No funds have been lost and whatever management issues have been raised have since been addressed, corrected, and aligned,” he said.

According to data shared by Chelugui, the Fund has rehabilitated eight million Kenyans who had bad credit and had been negatively listed by the Credit Reference Bureaus (CRB). There are 23 million who registered for the fund and 18 million who have borrowed.

Apart from Hustler Fund, Chelugui’s ministry has also been at the forefront of resuscitating the country’s coffee sector, a role that Deputy President Rigathi Gachagua had initially taken up.

This role has, however, been met with many challenges with some of the promises yet to be met.

Among the reforms that are yet to succeed is the reviving of the Coffee Research Foundation (CRF) and the Coffee Board of Kenya. The two institutions will be responsible for research and marketing respectively. The changes are contained in the Coffee Bill, 2023.

“Those fellows (private players) are not interested in the welfare of farmers but profit,” said  Chelugui at a function in Makueni County, decrying the lack of a marketing structure in the sector.

The reforms have also seen an increase in the cherry fund from Sh2 billion to Sh6 billion which will see farmers get paid Sh80 a kilo in two batches of Sh40 when the coffee is delivered to the factory and another sh40 when it is delivered to the miller.

“Between the harvest and milling it will be a month. The days of farmers taking years and months waiting for payments are gone,” he said.

The former CS also disbanded the board of Kenya Union of Savings and Credit Unions (Kusco) over the misappropriation of funds amounting to Sh5.5 billion.