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{
    "id": 644507,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/644507/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 75,
    "type": "speech",
    "speaker_name": "Hon. Murungi",
    "speaker_title": "",
    "speaker": {
        "id": 2802,
        "legal_name": "Kathuri Murungi",
        "slug": "kathuri-murungi"
    },
    "content": "One thing I am also not comfortable with is the fine of only Kshs1 million that banks that will not comply with this requirement will be expected to pay. The Kshs1 million is peanuts to a bank which is fleecing many customers. At the Committee of the whole House, we should increase the fine from Kshs1 million to maybe what my friend, Hon. Ottichilo proposed, about Kshs10 million. It can be even Kshs50 million. The penalty should be punitive, so that banks can comply. The Governor of the Central Bank has a lot of powers to rein in these banks. This is the right time for him to come in. I would like to congratulate him because in the last three months, he has rescued three banks which were almost collapsing and were under receivership. These are the Dubai Bank, Imperial Bank and now the Chase Bank. The Governor is doing some good job and this is the type of a governor Kenya has been yearning for. Last week, I heard him say that this is a bad law. I hope he has not been misadvised. If he takes some time to look at this law keenly, he will realise that Kenyans need this law like yesterday. It is very unfortunate that every year, banks are declaring billions and billions of shillings in profits. We fail to understand how banks make a lot of money in profits while depositors in those banks become poorer day by day. This means that banks are enjoying Kenyans’ sweat through high interest rates and Kenyans are suffering. I am happy because both sides of this House are unanimous in agreeing that this law needs to be changed. There are fears that it might not be so through the Presidential assent, but this House has power to amass the two-thirds majority and rescue Kenyans from what is happening in the commercial banks. The SACCOs charge as low as 6 or 8 per cent interest rates and they are not going under. We wonder why commercial banks cannot follow the steps the SACCOs are using. Kenyans should save with SACCOs as much as possible and forget commercial banks, so that they can also make some profits."
}