Fuliza: How Kenyans are borrowing to pay debt and lend

A sugar cane hawker attends to his customers in Nyeri Town. [Kibata Kihu, Standard]

Financial advisors will caution you not to take debt unless it is for investment. Even then, they will say weigh your risks before taking a loan to finance a business or project. There are a few exceptions to this rule including emergencies.

But with the hard times that Kenyans are going through, this rule, and perhaps the entire rule book, has gone through the window. The majority of Kenyans are borrowing for consumption and probably worse, some are even borrowing for on lending to friends and relatives in distress. The result is that about two out of every 10 Kenyans are in debt distress and struggling to keep them above the water.