A new grievance has been lodged against Watu Credit by a borrower who questioned the firm’s response to a stolen motorbike and the unexplained demand for a cash payment from police officers in Matunda.
According to the complainant, the motorbike acquired on loan from Watu Credit disappeared in April 2023 after being parked at a gate near Webuye District.
The theft was promptly reported both to the company and the Webuye Police Station.
Although it was fitted with a tracking device, efforts to trace the motorbike proved unsuccessful and the family halted the search, only to receive a call last week from a Watu Credit representative indicating that the motorbike had been located at Matunda Police Station.
Officers at the station allegedly demanded Ksh 20,000 for its release, a move that prompted the complainant to seek public redress.
The borrower raised several questions for Watu Credit, including why the tracking device had failed to locate the motorbike earlier and how it ended up in the custody of Saboti Police without any arrests being made.
They also questioned why officers were demanding money to release a motorbike still under loan, noting that such a situation falls within the contractual obligations that bind Watu Credit and the borrower in the event of loss or theft.
“Hi Cyprian. I have an issue with Watu Credit. I need you to air it out. My mother took a motorbike on loan from Watu Credit. Last year in April, it got lost when it was parked at the gate nearest to Webuye district. It was reported to Watu Credit, of which it had a track. The same was reported to Webuye police station. I will be sharing the OB number. The motorbike search was in vain. We decided not to search anymore. Last week, my mum received a call from a representative of Watu Credit that the motorbike has been found and it’s at Matunda police station. The policemen are demanding 20k for it to be released. My question to Watu Credit is, if they have a tracking device in the motorbike, how did they not find it at that time? When a motorbike is still under loan, there is a contract that binds Watu Credit and the loanee in case the bike gets lost. How did the motorbike find its way to Saboti police without arresting the thieves? And why are police demanding the 20k? Watu Credit and the police of Matunda need to explain,” the source wrote to us.
This latest complaint has surfaced amid a growing record of grievances against the firm.
The issues stretch beyond borrowers and touch deeply on internal operations, staff treatment, and broader compliance matters.
In recent months, whistleblowers have been reaching out to us with details of a toxic workplace culture where Watu Credit allegedly subjected employees to mandatory shifts on weekends and public holidays without overtime pay.
These reports also claimed that departments such as the Back Office Simu team were singled out for especially harsh treatment, with unattainable performance targets being weaponized to justify forced resignations and disciplinary action.
The company’s CEO, Andris Kaneps, has been repeatedly mentioned in public complaints for allegedly ignoring systemic issues within the firm, from abusive management practices to discriminatory policies that reportedly favour certain nationalities within leadership ranks.
We also highlighted reports of nepotism in the redundancy process, with employees accusing the firm of using “rightsizing” as a pretext to eliminate staff selectively, based on favoritism and internal bias, rather than on performance or merit.
In April 2024, reports indicated that the company had not conducted any salary review since 2020, with staff raising alarm over poor mental health, skewed promotion criteria, and long working hours imposed without adequate compensation.
Management has also been accused of operating key positions using foreign nationals on visitor visas, a practice that has raised legal and ethical questions about immigration compliance and labour market fairness.
On the customer side, allegations of exploitative lending terms have persisted, particularly targeting Boda Boda operators and other low-income borrowers.
Complainants have cited interest rates as high as 103%, claiming the firm uses contractual loopholes to trap borrowers into extended debt cycles even after meeting repayment obligations.
Watu Credit’s refusal to release logbooks even after clients complete their loan payments has also drawn public ire, with affected customers expressing frustration over delayed documentation and lack of redress channels.
In 2024, the Tax Appeals Tribunal upheld a decision by the Kenya Revenue Authority to exclude profits generated from Watu Credit in Car & General’s EBITDA calculations, resulting in an additional tax demand of Ksh 49 million.
The tribunal’s finding reaffirmed that the firm’s financial dealings through subsidiaries did not exempt it from standard tax liability.
A similar complaint was raised in March 2025 involving Bboxx Kenya, a related credit-based solar and TV provider, where clients claimed they continued being charged Ksh 15 per day even after completing their installments.
This history of grievances, spanning taxation, labour relations, borrower treatment, and regulatory evasion, continues to place Watu Credit under the public microscope, as more Kenyans come forward to share their terrible experiences with the company.
