Thika Road Blocked by KU Students Protesting HELB Delay

A section of Thika Road was rendered impassable as students from Kenyatta University engaged in the second wave of protests in less than a week.

The students took to the streets in protest over loan delays barricading both sides of the busy highway, leaving the highway near the university impassable.

As a result, motorists were unable to use the overpass on their way to Thika, forcing them to seek alternative routes. 

It has since emerged that the protests stemmed from a disgruntled lot of students who were angered by the delays in the disbursement of the Higher Education Loans Board (HELB) loans.

Videos obtained by Kenyans.co.ke showed tens of students marching on the busy highway, with some insisting they were going to storm Anniversary Towers to enquire about the status of the HELB loan.

Motorists have since been advised to seek alternative routes as the demonstrations came with major traffic snarl-ups stretching from the Githurai 44 area to Kenyatta University.

Notably, this was the second time in less than a week that learners from the prestigious university have taken to the streets in protest.

On Monday, January 27, students took to the streets to lament electricity issues after the institution stayed without power for nearly a week.  Power has since been restored after the mass action.

Elsewhere, Egerton University students on Monday issued an ultimatum to HELB to disburse funds within the next 12 hours. At the same time, Kenyans.co.ke has also established that a section of the University of Nairobi students have resorted to marching to Anniversary Towers to find out why there are delays in HELB loans.

Dig deeper: The issue of delayed loans has been prevalent since the start of the year, with students enrolled in universities and TVET institutions under the New Funding Model of the Higher Education Loans Board (HELB) continue to lament that they are yet to receive their upkeep and tuition loans.

Many of the students complain that the status of their applications when they log into the Higher Education Financing Portal reads “Still Running” or “Verified”, with little to no progress afterward.

One of the reasons for the delays could be due to a clash of timetables. HELB typically disburses funds on a semesterly basis and since students under the new University Funding Model are still considered to be in the first semester, there is a chance tertiary are yet to update HELB on the start of a new semester.