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{
    "id": 632427,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/632427/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 134,
    "type": "speech",
    "speaker_name": "Hon. Njagagua",
    "speaker_title": "",
    "speaker": {
        "id": 2336,
        "legal_name": "Charles Muriuki Njagagua",
        "slug": "charles-muriuki-njagagua"
    },
    "content": "Thank you, Hon. Temporary Deputy Speaker, for giving me this chance to contribute to this Bill. At the outset, I wish to thank Hon. Jude Njomo for coming up with this well-thought amendment. This Bill has come about because of the wrong conduct of banks. On one hand, they are willing to charge investors or depositors high interest rates. At the moment, it stands at 24 per cent per annum. On the other hand, they are not willing to give us value for our money. Once you put your money in a fixed deposit, which they normally call deposit savings for the living debt, you get it at 4 per cent per annum. There is no correlation between what you get when they charge you in terms of the money that you are saving and what they charge you in terms of the money they are lending you. This is an opportune moment that we, as Parliament and the people’s representatives, should speak and say that it is high time we curbed interest rates that banks are charging Kenyans. They are taking us back to the old days of the KANU era when interest rates shot to as high as 29 or 30 per cent. Over the years, many people have lost their property and prime land when banks execute the securities that have been given to them. Hon. Temporary Deputy Speaker, like somebody had earlier on mentioned, people who benefit in all these matters are the shylocks because they get cheaper money as it were but at the other end, auctioneers come for your property. It is only the auctioneers that benefit. I believe you were in this Parliament when we passed the Donde Bill which came up with the In duplum Rule that once you get a loan of Kshs6 million, you cannot pay more than Kshs12 million. The banks are negating that rule that was passed by this House and they are charging interest upon interest and late penalties. These are hidden charges on the monies that Kenyans borrow. It is good that the Mover had thought of a criminal element to this Act such that if you overcharge and do not state those hidden interests, then you are liable for a fine of Kshs1million. The management of the CBK must pull up its socks because its supervisory role is wanting. In a span of two years or thereabouts in the last quarter of last year, a number of banks went down. They are Imperial Bank and Dubai Bank. Kenyans have lost the money they kept in those banks. Kenyans have entrusted their monies to these lending and financial institutions but at the end of the day, they walk out from these banks crying because they have gone under. This is because the supervisory role of the CBK is wanting. The supervisory role is a challenge in situations where banks have two banking systems. Some banks do banking without reflecting the same in their computers but when they collapse, you will have people saying that they had some money in the bank while the account was reflecting this kind of money. Their supervisory role is also wanting especially when banks are declaring their interests. They declare padded or highly The electronic version of the Official Hansard Report is for information purposesonly. A certified version of this Report can be obtained from the Hansard Editor."
}