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{
    "id": 1241360,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/1241360/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 50,
    "type": "speech",
    "speaker_name": "Sen. Omogeni",
    "speaker_title": "",
    "speaker": {
        "id": 13219,
        "legal_name": "Erick Okong'o Mogeni",
        "slug": "erick-okongo-mogeni"
    },
    "content": "Thank you, Mr. Deputy Speaker, Sir. I rise to support the Petition by CCP Mokaya Magembe on credit professional regulation. This is timely. The only thing I would like to propose is to amend the heading of this Petition to include the practice and giving of credit in the market. There are so many shylocks in town calling themselves credit bureaus that prey on innocent Kenyans. I do not know whether to call them credit bureaus or credit giving organizations. The interest they charge the poor Kenyans out here is exorbitant and unreasonable. I once dealt with a Kenyan ambassador, I am sorry to mention this, who got finance from Metropolitan National Sacco. She said she went to that company and was told that she will be given a lawyer for free to help her fill the papers. You give them your logbook. They do not allow you to take even the copies of the contract you signed with them. The interest is three times what you will be charged by our local banks. So, this is an area that has subjected Kenyans to a lot of suffering. Mr. Deputy Speaker, Sir, I hope the Committee that will take up this matter will not just look at regulating the--- I do not know what the Petitioner intended but I hope we are not going to do it like the Law Society of Kenya that we want to regulate the people’s practice, such as bodies engaged in giving credit to Kenyans out there. People go to borrowing their problems. You come to Nairobi, you bring a patient to the Kenyatta National Hospital (KNH), your patient dies and you are told by the hospital they need Kshs200,000. Since, you are in town, you say, “Let me go to a credit reference bureau and get some money to remove my patient, go home, and I will repay.” If you borrowed Kshs100,000, they will want you to pay Kshs500,000. It is not something we should allow really as parliamentarians. There is a lacuna here and we have been given a golden opportunity to address this issue. This is also an area we are willing to offer a bipartisan approach. I do not know the magic that the Late Former President Mwai Kibaki brought. In the year 2002, I was a very young professional. I had just worked for six years. When President Kibaki took over, banks were calling us to go and get money. I went to the Barclays Bank of Kenya for what was my first loan. They just asked for my payslip and I disappeared with Kshs500,000. The interest was very reasonable. I am pleading with President William Ruto’s Administration to also consider this. I do not know whether the Chair of the Presidential Council of Economic Advisors, Mr. Ndii, can put some thoughts together so that we make credit available to Kenya. If you borrow from a reputable bank like Kenya Barclays Bank, the National Bank, and Equity Bank, they will not subject you to the kind of suffering you will receive from these credit bodies. So, we are challenging the Government of the day to see whether there are ways you can jumpstart the economy so that Kenyans can get easy access to credit. In 2002, you could get unsecured loan of up to Kshs1 million. You just walk to the bank with your payslip, you get money and walk away. Before then, Sen. (Dr.)"
}