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{
    "id": 632334,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/632334/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 41,
    "type": "speech",
    "speaker_name": "Hon. Njomo",
    "speaker_title": "",
    "speaker": {
        "id": 1784,
        "legal_name": "Jude L. Kangethe Njomo",
        "slug": "jude-l-kangethe-njomo"
    },
    "content": "operative Bank with 12.3 billion, Centum Investment with Kshs8.8 billion, I&M Bank with Kshs7.7 billion and Diamond Trust Bank with Kshs7.2 billion. Those are the 10 best performing companies in the country. Seven of them are banks. I am not against banks making profits, but what we are against as legislators are banks making so much profit, and other businesses that borrow money from banks to do business do not make any profit. In every sector of our economy, there are Savings and Credit Co-operatives (SACCOs) which help employees and people to borrow money and do business or to develop their own welfare. The SACCOs in this country have helped many Kenyans to elevate their standards of living. We know that SACCOs charge 1 per cent per month or a total of 12 per cent per year and yet, they have made profits and grown into big organisations. We know that many buildings in Nairobi are owned by SACCOs and many investments have been done by them. They have charged 12 per cent since I was a small baby up to now and they are making profits. Banks keep changing their interest rates. Today, there are banks that are charging almost 25 per cent and they claim that if this is affected, they will not make any profits. This is not the first attempt to control bank interest rates. We know that banks have really resisted this. In the year 2000, the former Member of Parliament for Gem Constituency, Hon. Joe Donde, introduced the Central Bank of Kenya (Amendment) Bill, 2000. At that time, the interest rates spread in Kenya was among the highest in the world. The real interest rate was about 24 per cent. The state of affairs led to a situation where 36 per cent of loans were non-performing in the country in the 1990s."
}