Nyamira Senator Okongo Mong’are has asked county finance ministers and assembly budget committees to spearhead efforts to oversee the implementation of the regulation capping interest rates which President Uhuru Kenyatta signed into law on Wednesday.
Speaking to this writer on Wednesday evening on the phone, Mong’are welcomed the Head of State’s decision of assenting to the Banking (Amendment) Bill.
The Senator said there was a need for county governments to join the national government in ensuring that banks obey the regulation.
“We must cooperate at both levels of government to ensure that financial institutions fully comply with the Act which the President has signed into law. County Executive Committee members (CeCs) in conjunction with budget committees in county assemblies should regularly scrutinise the interest rates levied by banks in their respective counties to ensure full compliance,” said Senator Mong’are.
Mong’are said banks have been taking advantage of vulnerable borrowers to rake in huge profits over the last 40 years, calling the president’s move “a welcome step by the executive in hearkening to the cry of the people”.
He hailed Uhuru’s decision as a “landmark move”, saying it would go down in history as “a defining moment when the country’s leadership decided to defend the people from unfair interest rates levied by banks purely out to profit from defenseless citizens”.
The lawmaker asked the banking sector players not to be offended by the new law, saying it was now their time to pay back to the society after more than four decades of what he termed “reckless profiteering through exorbitant interest rates”.
He expressed his appreciation for the president’s decision, calling it “the mark of a true statesman”.
“We are pleased as a Senate by President Kenyatta’s decision to recognise and appreciate the Kenyan citizenry’s suffering at the hands of a clearly insensitive banking industry. His assent to the Bill is a sign that banks need to begin paying back their debt to society,” he said.