All Safaricom shops will not take the old Sh1,000 notes starting Thursday, September 26.
“Following the demonization of the Ksh. 1000 note we advise that the last day to collect the old currency at Safaricom shops will be September 26, 2019,” read a statement by Safaricom.
Another entity that has announced its deadline is Naivas Supermarket while Bata Kenya stopped taking these notes on Wednesday.
Naivas Chief Commercial Officer Willy Kimani has said that Sunday, September 30 is the last day they will accept the old notes.
“We are taking caution to provide sufficient time to offload the stock of notes in its possession to its various banking partners,” Kimani said in a press statement.
Speaking when he unveiled the new legal tender during the Madaraka Day celebrations held in Narok on June 1, CBK Governor Dr Patrick Njoroge set October 1 as the deadline for Kenyans to change the old Sh1,000 notes.
“All the older Sh1,000 series shall be withdrawn. All persons have until October 1, 2019, to exchange these notes, after which the older ones will cease to be legal tender,” the CBK Governor.
CBK and other institutions handling huge sums of cash are encouraging their clients to change the old notes to the new currency.