Ruto Presents Tuk Tuk Driver Who Took Ksh714K From Hustler Fund After Criticism [VIDEO]

President William Ruto on Thursday, November 30 paraded tuk-tuk driver, Harrison Karisa Kengai during the Hustler Fund First Anniversary Celebrations in Nairobi in a bid to prove to his critics that he did not lie about the Mombasa-based driver who transacted on the Ksh714,000 credit platform.

Kengai had initially disclosed that he had borrowed funds from the Hustler Fund to purchase fuel and maintain the Tuktuk that he currently drives.

He began with a limit of Ksh800 which was doubled to Ksh1,600 and went higher as he kept borrowing and repaying on time, hence the transactions totalling Ksh714,000, taking into consideration the number of times he had borrowed from the Hustler Fund.

"When I called Harrison Karisa Kengai yesterday, a Tuk Tuk operator in Mombasa, who has accessed 714,000 from the Hustler Fund, he suggested that we find a way to have the Fund provide asset financing so that he could use his Tuk Tuk for such credit. I assured him that during my address today, I would ask the ministry responsible to respond to him," Ruto highlighted Kengai's story during his State of the Nation speech earlier this month.

President William Ruto interacts with a boda boda rider at the Hustler Fund anniversary in Nairobi on November 30, 2023. /PCS

However, there was criticism regarding the tuk-tuk driver's existence and how he was able to access the funds yet the limit for personal loans was capped at Ksh50,000.

"The bible says though shall not lie, when the President mentioned somebody from the Coast who had borrowed Hustler fund Ksh714,000 for his information and the public at large an individual can only get from Ksh500 to Ksh50,000," Migori MP Fatuma Zainabu Mohammed stated in Parliament on November 14. 

Others wondered how Kengai was yet to purchase his own tuk-tuk which costs close to Ksh300,000, yet he was transacting Ksh714,000. Nonetheless, the criticism prompted the Head of State to present Kengai to the public during the celebrations held at Green Park Terminus in Nairobi.

"When I talked with you on the phone, people said you don't exist. Come forward so that they see you actually exist," Ruto summoned Kengai.

The Head of State recounted his narrative and the conversation with him regarding how he was using the Ksh714,000 derived from the Hustler Fund to invest in his tuk-tuk business but did not disclose the total amount he borrowed from the platform. 

For his relentless hard work, Ruto promised to buy him his own Tuktuk and also for maintaining a good credit score.

“This man who rides a Tuk Tuk that doesn't belong to him will walk out here today as a Tuk Tuk owner,” announced the President.

The President further improved his savings, which stood at Ksh35,730, with an extra Ksh3,000 since he had saved over Ksh 6,000 required to access an incentive.