Former Kakamega Senator Boni Khalwale has opined that the phasing out of old Sh1,000 notes was political.
In an interview on K24 on Thursday, Khalwale poked holes into the exercise, adding that the old notes should have been allowed to circulate together with the new notes until they phase out completely.
"We would have let the new Sh1,000 note circulate along the old one as it phases out. The attempt to demonetize was political,” he said.
"The blood relatives of Mzee Jomo Kenyatta would not want to lose the old currency because of its sentimental value... and there is nothing wrong with that,” he added.
Political commentator Muthama Gabriel, who spoke on the same platform said the move will not stop money laundering in the country, adding that the government has to go an extra mile to curb the vice.
"If the issue was money laundering, the question is; have we dealt with it? Even with these new notes, people will still stash the cash in their homes," he posed.
Meanwhile, the Central Bank of Kenya on Monday announced that 7,386,000 pieces of the old Sh1,000 notes were not returned.
"There were 217,047,000 pieces of Sh1,000 as at June 1. 209,661,000 pieces of Sh 1,000 were received by the end of September 30. 7,386,000 pieces of KSh 1,000 did not return. This means KSh 7,386,000,000 became worthless pieces of paper," CBK posted.