Gatundu South Member of Parliament Moses Kuria has defended President Uhuru Kenyatta after he declined to approve the Finance Bill. Uhuru, instead, asked MPs to scrap commercial lending rate caps.
In an interview with Citizen TV on Thursday, Kuria said that there is the need to remove the caps. He noted that banks have been finding it hard to operate because of the interest caps.
“I think that it is good to remove the caps. I would have wanted to see a graduated formula for that removal” he said.
He also dismissed claims that the members of parliament have what it takes to overturn the decision of the head of state. He argued that they cannot even alter a dot on the law.
“There is no conceivable way that parliament is going to marshal the numbers to overturn the president’s memorandum, or even to change it because even to put a dot or a comma needs 223 members," he said.
Kuria also said that he looks forward to a day when banks will be free to decide their fate. He also noted that Kenyans do not understand how the banks operate.
“I want to start that conversation whereby we do not see that only banks have got solutions to capital…we go to banks for credit, we do not go for capital…” he added.
MPs had vowed to overturn Uhuru's decision.