{"id":723023,"url":"http://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/723023/?format=json","text_counter":125,"type":"speech","speaker_name":"Hon. Wakhungu","speaker_title":"","speaker":{"id":1889,"legal_name":"Chrisantus Wamalwa Wakhungu","slug":"chrisantus-wamalwa-wakhungu"},"content":"I request Hon. Members to support this Bill on the SACCO movement. Recently, we passed a Bill by Jude Njomo capping the interest rates in the banks. At the moment, Banks are not even lending money to people. The core business of a bank is to lend money. When I shared with one of the directors, he told me it is a big risk to lend money because they are not assured of repayments. That is because the interest rate is controlled and they have a lot of overheads. This has led to many banks laying-off staff. The SACCOs are now a replacement and Kenyans are borrowing money from them as opposed to banks. That is because you borrow what you have saved. This is a very important Bill which is going to play a very critical role in as far as the economy of this country is concerned."}