More than 2,000 herders who have been grazing their livestock in the interior of Lamu and Tana River counties want the Central Bank of Kenya to allow them to return their old Sh1000 banknotes.
This is after they failed to beat the September 30 deadline, considering that they had migrated with their Livestock into the remote areas of the counties, unaware of the deadline.
Speaking on Friday, they said that they have been unaware of the changes, and were only notified that their banknotes are no longer usable while trying to pay for services.
"We tried paying for food in a hotel in Minjila, only to be told the money was not valid. It nearly ended in a confrontation with the hotel owner, but someone who understood where we had come from later explained to us what was going on," said Mohammed Barisa.
He added that the group of about 2000 has been away from home since February, and some have fallen victim to rogue businessmen who have night their animals using the banned old generation notes.
"We even sold some sheep and goats to some people, and they paid us with these old Sh1,000 notes. We have close to Sh200,000 with us, but now we are told we have papers that no bank can take," Ismael Barako, a herder said.