Moi University students carried out demonstrations in Eldoret for the second day demanding the release of delayed loans from the Higher Education Loans Board.
However, as they protested the Helb CEO Charles Ringera declared that they had no money to release to the students.
Ringera said they require Sh15.5 billion to release to about 500,000 students at the universities and TVET colleges but so far they had not received funding.
“Things are not good. We are waiting for funding from the Exchequer and our collections are not quite good because of the Covid-19 situation. The students will have to be patient and bear the situation,” said Ringera.
Ringera who spoke to the Star on phone on Wednesday said the expected budget from the Treasury for Helb had also been cut down by more than Sh2 billion but they are in talks through parliament to resolve the funding challenges.
“We were in parliament on Wednesday and we hope things will work out,” he said.
The CEO said their loan recoveries currently stand at about 87 per cent.
He confirmed all students on their lists were yet to get money from Helb and said more students had called threatening to join the protests
Moi University Student leader Felix Kwemoi said they had decided to take to the streets because their pleas for assistance had been ignored yet they were suffering.
The students said they were starving and were unable to pay for accommodation among other needs because of lack of money.
“We have decided to picket on the streets because our efforts to resolve this matter internally has not succeeded. We will remain on the streets until our cries are heard by those concerned”, said Kwemoi.
The students said they used the money cater to their needs and also pay fees and that delays in releasing the same had caused them extensive suffering.
Some of the students said they had gone without food for more than three weeks.
Vice-Chancellor of the University Professor Isaac Kosgey promised the students that the matter was being dealt with.
The university has admitted that some of its students were starving due to a lack of money.
A memo by the Dean of Students, J.S Ayieko, dated March 8 called on students who are starving to register with the dean through class representatives and student leaders.
The details required include name, registration number, contacts, and where they stay.
“It has come to our notice that there are several students who are starving and have been going without meals for days,” the memo reads.
Ayieko said the university was in contact with Helb to enable the quick release of the money to the students.
Last December, Helb said it had reduced the average amount offered to students for loans from about Sh45,000 to Sh37,000.
Ringera had also revealed that for a student to be comfortable they need an annual budget of about Sh200,000.
“Given that Helb provides about Sh37, 000 currently then it means the students or the household has to raise another Sh162,000,” Ringera said to the Parliamentary Committee on Education.
During Tuesday’s demos in Eldoret, the students wondered why the government was spending money on politics and BBI yet it could not release the money to finance their education.