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{
    "id": 1095772,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/1095772/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 284,
    "type": "speech",
    "speaker_name": "Ugenya, MDG",
    "speaker_title": "Hon. David Ochieng’",
    "speaker": {
        "id": 2955,
        "legal_name": "David Ouma Ochieng'",
        "slug": "david-ouma-ochieng"
    },
    "content": "televisions that have been sold to citizens that only work if they make monthly payments. If they are not made, the televisions stop working. There are also power lamps that only switch on if you have paid the money. All those are forms of digital lending. The most important thing about lending that I believe the CBK will address through this Bill is the requirement for transparency on the terms and conditions attached to digital lending. Everybody has gone headstrong into digital borrowing. Almost everyone is now borrowing from all the platforms available in the country. They are easier to access and there are no requirements for you to accept some conditions before you access them. You just go in one time and that is it. Conditions, interest and penalties keep changing and you never know. However, the guys lending always make it easily available for you. The requirement for transparency by the digital lenders will be very important. Giving the CBK teeth to work on the transparency regulations is important in ensuring that digital borrowers are not exploited. Above all, it is also meant to ensure that lenders are on a tight leash, so that they do not exploit Kenyans. Secondly, there is also the issue of insecurity, as has been spoken about by another Member. There should be security on the lending platforms. Passing this law will give the CBK powers to ensure that the technology and platforms being used to provide those services are strengthened and made in such a way that they cannot be easily breached. We hope that once this Bill goes through, the CBK will move quickly to ensure that they use the available laws, so that we do not have issues to do with stealing using this system. Thirdly, it is about information sharing. The Government has an interest in ensuring that the country’s citizens are not overly indebted. In the last few years, cases of suicide, depression, and mental disorders have gone up. Most of those cases are associated with difficult living standards and inability to meet financial obligations. Being able to share information and ensuring that people are not taking loans that they cannot repay is important. Again, where I come from, I have seen that instead of individuals running microfinance lending through the phone, people have their cows and furniture taken away because they could not pay loans on time. The biggest growing industry today is the motorcycle industry; the"
}