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{
    "id": 959730,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/959730/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 134,
    "type": "speech",
    "speaker_name": "Nyaribari Chache, JP",
    "speaker_title": "Hon. Richard Tong’i",
    "speaker": {
        "id": 2611,
        "legal_name": "Richard Nyagaka Tongi",
        "slug": "richard-nyagaka-tongi"
    },
    "content": "The questions we need to ask ourselves are: Are we going to punish people for their success? Are we going to punish banks because they are making money? Would we rather have a situation where they are not making money and then we punish them? We also have in the same economy, with the same parameters, struggling banks. We have a merger in progress between the National Bank of Kenya (NBK) and Kenya Commercial Bank (KCB). The reason for the merger is that NBK is not doing well. So, it is not fair to say that banks are making a lot of money and should be punished so that they can accommodate Kenyans. We also need to appreciate that in the same economy, some banks are struggling. Only those which are managed prudently like KCB, Co-operative Bank of Kenya, Barclays and Equity, just to mention a few, are making profits. They are not making profits because Kenyans are being over-charged, but they are making profits because they are well managed with qualified management and very competent board of directors. So, the question we need to ask ourselves is: Is it just enough to lower or raise interest rates? We cannot do that in isolation of Kenyan‟s behaviour. Institutions operate under an economy with the behaviour of the people. We have history that has guided the country this far. As a former banker, I know that before a customer is admitted in a bank, “Know Your Customer” is applied. We do it to understand and appreciate our customers. We appreciate them all with their predicaments and we also understand that we cannot all be the same. Again, it is good to encourage our people to know that when they borrow money from a bank, the money is meant to make their lives better or grow their business. But we have a culture in Kenya where people borrow money from a bank to buy a suit, clothes or enjoy themselves by throwing parties for friends. Certainly, that is going to affect how we handle our finances. We need to appreciate that banks have done their bit and capping the interest rates alone is not a panacea. It is not going to solve our concerns or everything that we are talking about. If we must cap the interest rates, it is only fair that we consider the lower interest rates. If the lower interest rates are controlled, we can control the upper limit. However, we cannot control both the upper and the lower limits because by doing so, we are not leaving the banks room to play around with their numbers. When you tell them that they must charge a certain interest rate on deposits and yet at the upper 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."
}