“My issue has been finally resolved; I would like to express my gratitude to the Commission for the help,” these were the words of Ms. Jennifer Parsitau a final year student at Moi University.
According to Ms. Parsitau, she applied for the Higher Education Loans Board (HELB) loan for her first year study in 2016 and the Board approved her request for a loan of Kshs35,000. However, on 5th May 2016, the Board inadvertently transferred Kshs26,500 to a wrong bank account.
Ms. Parsitau was concerned that the money was talking ages to hit her account forcing her to raise the issue with the lender. However, three years later, no help was coming as her first year’s disbursement had not been redirected to the correct account despite the Board transmitting the subsequent three years’ loan disbursements to the right account. The inordinate delay and the unresponsiveness of the HELB to have the issue resolved forced her to lodge a complaint with the Commission on 31st October, 2019.
The Commission by way of inquiry took up the issue with the Chief Executive Officer of HELB. The Board in a letter to the Commission on 12th November, 2019, admitted to the error that it blamed on the unresponsiveness of the involved bank in correcting the anomaly by redirecting the money to the correct account.
In a letter to the Commission dated 7th February, 2020, the Board confirmed that the money had been redirected to Ms. Parsitau account bringing to an end her agonising three year wait.
