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{
    "id": 914910,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/914910/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 145,
    "type": "speech",
    "speaker_name": "Mwea, JP",
    "speaker_title": "Hon. Josphat Kabinga",
    "speaker": {
        "id": 13441,
        "legal_name": "Josphat Kabinga Wachira",
        "slug": "josphat-kabinga-wachira-2"
    },
    "content": " I want to confirm that I was here at exactly 9.00 a.m. I had also come to attend to my Question. So, the Hon. Member is out of order. Thank you, Hon. Temporary Deputy Speaker. I rise to support this amendment Bill by my good friend Hon. Wakapee from Juja Constituency. It is coming at the right time when many Kenyans are suffering because of banks wanting to go for guarantor as the first charge. What this Bill is simply saying is that the borrower and the properties or collaterals presented by the borrower should serve as the first charge. The guarantor should come in next. What we are saying is that when a borrower fails to honour his commitments, the banks are very good at rushing for the guarantor’s properties. This has caused a lot of distress. Families have broken down, and some guarantors have even ended up in hospitals. Some of them are somewhere else and not in this world. Therefore, this is a very serious amendment that we will need to take very seriously. I ask that we do not just focus on banks. There is also the co-operative movement where many guarantors are suffering. I have worked in an environment where I have been a member of a co-operative society for 20 years with the US Embassy. I have witnessed many guarantors suffering because of borrowers who, sometimes, leave their place of work and no longer care to service their loans from wherever they go. This ends up in the hands of the guarantors. I have seen many people whose houses and properties have been taken. I have seen guarantors who have been going without a salary. A whole family that has been getting a salary from the breadwinner ends up not getting it because somebody borrowed. You guaranteed that person and he is enjoying somewhere. Because you are the one who is left in employment, you are left without a salary. It is high time we looked at some of these laws and amend them so that you only go to the guarantor when you have exhausted everything else. The guarantor should also be given a chance to also identify any other property that the borrower could be having and communicate the same to the bank. The bank should then cooperate. We should have a clause that compels bank to cooperate with a guarantor before action is taken. There are borrowers who have many properties out there, and are known by a guarantor but not by the bank and the guarantor could point them out. We should have a leeway where, even if such properties are not charged, they are followed up and taken before you move to a guarantor. In the same way, I think it is important that banks handle matters properly with decorum. If I am a guarantor, I should also be able to give alternative properties to the bank as opposed to rushing in and taking matrimonial homes, something which increases distress in people. For example, the children in distressed families may not know when the deal was struck between the borrower and the guarantor. The guarantor may not have shared the same information with his family. Therefore, it is important that banks handle these issues with decorum and ensure that they cause minimum stress to the affected families. With those few remarks, I support this amendment Bill. It will touch on the Law of Contract Act, Cap. 23. This should be done quickly because it is a proposal that is going to positively affect families out there that are just about to suffer from the existing law. Thank you. The electronic version of the Official Hansard Report is for information purposes only. Acertified version of this Report can be obtained from the Hansard Editor."
}