Higher Education Loans Board Act

This Act may be cited as the Higher Education Loans Board Act.

This section provides definitions for terms used in the Act such as "Board", "Commission for Higher Education", "eligible person", "Fund", "Higher education", "Loanee", "Secretary", and "student".

Sets rules for Board meetings: who presides, meeting frequency, requisitioned special meetings, quorum, voting, chairperson's casting vote, minutes, and that the Board regulates its own proceedings.

Establishes the Higher Education Loans Management Board as a corporate body with a seal and lists powers including suing and being sued, acquiring and disposing of property, entering contracts, borrowing and lending, and performing other acts necessary to its functions.

Section 4 sets out who composes the Board, how some members are appointed, tenure of non ex officio members, grounds for vacancy, and vacancy notification duties.

Section 5. Secretary to the Board Section 5(1) There shall be a Secretary to the Board who shall be appointed by the Cabinet Secretary and who shall be the chief executive of the Board, and shall be responsible for the management of the

The Board must formulate sound policies for regulating the management of the Fund.

Committees of the Board must have five members, a quorum of three, elect their own chair, may co-opt up to two additional members, and regulate their own proceedings subject to the Act.

The Board may delegate powers and duties to its Committees; committee acts are not binding on the Board unless approved in writing by the Board; an aggrieved person may appeal to the Board within sixty days of a committee decision.

The Board may, by resolution, delegate its powers or functions to any member, officer, employee or agent of the Board.

Establishes the Higher Education Loans Fund and states it shall be managed by the Board.

Lists the Fund's permitted revenue sources (Parliamentary votes; loan repayments; investment income; borrowed sums with Cabinet Secretary consent; gifts/donations/grants/endowments) and states that expenditure approved by the Board shall be paid out of the Fund.

Students seeking a higher education loan must apply to the Board in the prescribed form; students awarded loans shall be issued a Loanee Identification Personal Account Number (L.I.P.A.). The text also prohibits knowingly making false statements on application forms and neglecting to provide required information without reasonable cause.

The Board may accept or reject loan applications and grant loans with conditions; the Board must notify applicants and may require compliance and security within a specified period not exceeding six months; guarantors may be held liable and prosecuted for failure to repay.

Loanees must inform the Board of their contact address, begin repayment of their loan with interest, and, if formally employed, authorize employer deductions; failure to comply is an offence punishable by a minimum fine of five thousand shillings per unpaid deduction payable to the Board.

Employers must notify the Board in writing when they employ a loanee, deduct loan amounts from confirmed loanees' wages as instructed by the Board, and pay those deductions to the Board within 15 days after month end.

The Kenya Revenue Authority must, at the Board's request and subject to section 125(3) of the Income Tax Act (Cap. 470), provide the name and address of a borrower or the borrower’s employer if that information is known to the Authority.

Employers must deduct loan repayments and remit them to the Board within the prescribed period; failure to remit attracts a charge of 5% per month on the employer. Employers who fail without reasonable excuse to notify the Board of a loanee within the specified period commit an offence and are liable to a fine of not less than 3,000 shillings per month or part month.

The Board must send all loanees an annual return form on the last day of each calendar year, and every loanee must fill and submit it to the Board before the end of February of the succeeding year.

The Board must not deduct more than one quarter of a loanee's basic monthly salary when making loan recovery deductions.

Section 20 gives the Board power to recover unpaid loan amounts (with interest) as a civil debt, to enforce or realise security related to loans, and permits the Board to engage private legal practitioners to exercise those powers.

The Board may waive loans.

The Board must employ necessary officers, inspectors and servants and must pay them salaries and allowances from the Fund as determined by the Board.

Inspectors can enter and examine premises and persons for inspection; occupiers, employers and related persons must provide information and documents when required; inspectors must show a Board authorization letter when seeking admission.

Inspectors (or persons the Board authorizes in writing) may prosecute offences under this Act in any court, subject to directions of the Director of Public Prosecutions.

Proceedings for an offence under this Act may be commenced at any time within twelve months from when evidence sufficient in the opinion of the Board to justify a prosecution comes to the Board's knowledge.

Courts must order convicted persons to pay outstanding loan repayments, interest and penalties to the Board; the Board may recover sums as civil debts; inspectors or officers of the Board may institute proceedings and (in magistrate's courts) must prosecute them.

A copy of an entry in the Board’s accounts or an extract from the Board’s records or register, if certified as a true copy by the Secretary or a person he authorizes, must be received as prima facie evidence in proceedings under this Act.

The Board's financial year runs from 1 July to 30 June of the following year.

The Board must submit annual income and expenditure estimates six months before the financial year; the Cabinet Secretary must communicate approval at least one calendar month before the financial year.

The Board must keep proper books and records of the Fund; the Board's accounts must be audited by the Auditor-General or an Auditor approved by the Auditor-General; the Board cannot terminate such an auditor without Auditor-General approval; the Auditor-General may direct auditors and has powers to inspect and report.

The Board must prepare an annual report within three months after each financial year and transmit it to the Cabinet Secretary, who must present it to the National Assembly with the Auditor-General's report and certified copies of the accounts referred to in section 30.

Persons with official duties related to administration of the Act must treat loan-application and loan-granting documents and information as secret and confidential.

Officials of the Board acting in good faith while executing this Act are not to be held personally liable for actions, claims or demands arising from those acts.

The Board remains liable to pay compensation or damages to any person for injuries to the person, their property, or interests caused by exercising or failing to exercise powers conferred by this Act.

The Cabinet Secretary may, by notice in the Gazette, exempt any class of persons from all or any provisions of this Act when in his opinion it is expedient in the public interest.

The Act applies to persons in the service of the Government as if their employer were a private person or state corporation, subject to exemptions; monies the Government must pay for loan repayments for such persons are charged to the Consolidated Fund without further appropriation than in this Act.

Regulations concerning the receipt, processing and approval of applications for student loans and the granting of loans to students.