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{
    "id": 1498080,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/1498080/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 240,
    "type": "speech",
    "speaker_name": "Seme, ODM",
    "speaker_title": "Hon. (Dr) James Nyikal",
    "speaker": null,
    "content": " Thank you, Hon. Temporary Speaker. Sometimes, I feel very bad because the things that were working are no longer working. I did not get the question, but I have got the drift. Let me tell you what happened. Let the truth be told. When the WEF was started, I was there at that critical moment. It was run in two ways. In the first one, it was to be given to groups that were formed by the then Ministry of Gender and Social Services and registered by the Ministry of Culture and Social Services. It was for that purpose that we created a society that registered those women so that they can get the funds. The other part of the fund was to be given to middle institutions like banks who would then give it to individual women who wanted large amounts of money. With time, it turned out that the interest on the money that was given to banks and co-operative organisations to be given to women was supposed to be 8 per cent. The banks were giving women their own money and keeping that money because they did not want them to benefit from the 8 per cent interest rate. That slowed down almost to a stop. The one for the women groups flourished. The problem came when there was a decision that the system should be digitised. When they digitised, the process was hurried. It was supposed to be through a presidential order. They digitised so quickly and women groups were formed digitally. Applications and disbursement were digital. They disbursed a lot of money very quickly – almost a billion shillings. When it came to repayment, it was realised that repayment rate dropped from 86 per cent when they were doing things manually to 26 per cent. They went out to find out what had happened. They found out that the groups were merely digital; they did not exist. That is why nobody was paying. Apparently, that money was lost. When the proper statement is brought, we would want to know how much money was lost. In their response, they decided to stop the issuance of the Women Enterprise Fund, because the digital system was not working and they were losing money. They stopped and women had since then not been getting money. We were told that the banks subsequently restarted issuing money, but the information I am getting from Members is that the process has not started. It was a hurried process that caused problems. So, they stopped. I do not know whether they have corrected it so that the women can get money. The Fund was very popular with women. You would get Ksh100,000 the first time and Ksh200,000 the second time, if you paid back the first loan. By the time the banks stopped lending, there were women in my constituency who were getting Ksh700,000 and doing a good job. It is the hurried digitisation that caused the problem. Let us face it. Thank you."
}