A Nairobi court has directed the Higher Education Loans Board (HELB) to pay a lawyer Sh10 million for erroneously listing her as a defaulter.
Eunice Ng’ang’a moved to court after HELB listed her with Credit Reference Bureaus (CRB) as a loan defaulter despite not being a beneficiary.
In his ruling, High Court Justice James Makau ordered HELB to pay Sh10 million to the petitioner and apologize to her in two newspapers of national circulation.
The judge noted that the actions of the defendant caused Ms. Ng’ang’a embarrassment in addition to tarnishing her reputation.
“This Court takes judicial notice to the fact that whoever is ever listed by any of the Credit Reference Bureaus (CRBs) following an adverse information or report cannot be taken as a person worthy granting a loan or doing business with otherwise. The person loses all respect and dignity,” Justice Makau said in his decision.
“I am alive to the fact that an adverse report from CRB is not a light joke and no prudent business person would go about giving a loan or entering into a business contract with someone who has an adverse report from CRB.”
The court heard that the petitioner applied for a HELB loan in 1995 but she was not successful. HELB later sent Sh8,000 to Maseno University as a loan meant to support her studies despite not being a student in the institution.
The court was told that HELB remained silent about the loan for 21 years but the lender defended itself saying it unsuccessful pursued Ms. Ng’ang’a between 1999 and 2016 in an attempt to have her repay the loan but she was evasive.
In her defense, the petitioner said she did not join Maseno University even though she got an admission letter from the institution and, therefore did not utilize the loan.
In 2018, Ng’ang’a received an email notifying her that she had been listed with CRB, prompting her to sue HELB.
HELB in documents filed in court claimed her name was wrongly flagged due to a system malfunction and admitted to having recovered the money from Maseno University in 2016.
