Entry Instance

HTTP 200 OK
Allow: GET, PUT, PATCH, DELETE, HEAD, OPTIONS
Content-Type: application/json
Vary: Accept

{
    "id": 1095765,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/1095765/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 277,
    "type": "speech",
    "speaker_name": "Makueni, WDM-K",
    "speaker_title": "Hon. Daniel Maanzo",
    "speaker": {
        "id": 2197,
        "legal_name": "Daniel Kitonga Maanzo",
        "slug": "daniel-kitonga-maanzo"
    },
    "content": "This Bill is trying to ensure that digital transactions take place within an established law so that there can be database that will serve the country sufficiently. Importantly, the object of the amendment is to provide for licensing of digital credit service providers who are not regulated under any other law. Quite a number of them have come up and are already in business. The Central Bank of Kenya is cracking down on some of these lenders. The transactions are done through mobile phones. Many times, people default paying such loans and switch off their phones or they stop using the phone numbers altogether so that they cannot be traced. So, it really becomes a challenge. One cannot explain whether there a crime has been committed or the Central Bank of Kenya Act has been breached or what the remedy is. Luckily, digital lending involves small sums of money that are loaned to individuals. The amounts involved are about Kshs5,000 or even Kshs1,000. However, when you look at the volumes in terms of the country, the total amounts that are loaned to Kenyans runs into billions of shillings and definitely this sector needs to be regulated. This also includes the forexes although they have not been captured in this Bill. The forex bureaus operate under a different law. Digital lending has been happening without a legal framework but the law we are making will support that sort of thing. Looking at the future, digital money is now a reality. Many people have been cheated through the so-called block chain technology and bitcoins in and out of Kenya. The main Central Banks of the world, like those in United Kingdom and the United States of America, are not yet ready to accept digital money, and the rest of the world have followed suit. However, when it comes to Chinese money and technology, they want to come up with a way of making sure that the systems cannot be hacked. If you have Digital Shilling, Digital Dollar or Digital Yuan, there is a way of safeguarding that money. By using your mobile phone, you can transact using information technology. They are working on ways of ensuring that that system cannot be hacked so that you do not lose your money. If that happens, it will be the future. We are amending the Central Bank of Kenya Act to accommodate digital borrowing because the future is in digital money. Although countries have been very conservative, the youth are ahead of us. They have even come up with this technology and made their presentations. When they first talked about digital borrowing, it was resisted but it has now become a reality. As time progresses, we will have digital money because it is a reality. Very soon, the US Dollar, the Sterling Pound, the Euro and the Yuan, and many other currencies, including the Kenya Shilling, will be digital. I am sure experts like the Leader of the Majority Party will advise this country on what to do because that is where the world is going."
}