By Noeil Wandera
The prospects of being left with valueless paper is causing sleepless nights across the country two days to September 30 deadline for exchanging the older Sh1,000 notes.
Many people expressed frustration yesterday, saying banks were erecting new obstacles to those seeking to exchange the old notes with new currency before the deadline. A number of traders and taxi operators Business Hub spoke to said requirement by banks that they first open accounts before making the deposits, did not favour their kind of work.
Felix Njage, the proprietor of Kijiti Kela investments said apart from time constraints, where he will be required to close his business to go and deposit the old currency, he is not happy with a caveat by most banks requiring him to open an account first. He described the process as tedious and time wasting, a position shared by another trader Mary Soyiantet and Taxi driver Anthony Kubota.
Many banks are using SMS mobile services to remind their customers to beat the September 30 deadline when the old Sh1,000 currency notes will cease to be legal tenders. Cases of fake currency dealers and money launderers have also emerged In Kiambu and Kajiado counties.
In Kiambu, business owners have bought counterfeit money detectors at Sh4,000 to avoid con artists from deceiving them into accepting fake notes in the race to exchange old 1,000 notes.
“I purchased the machine after release of the new currency to avoid being conned by the tricksters,” said Ruth Kiarie, a Supermarket proprietor.
An M-Pesa Agent, James Mbogo, who lost his money at the hands of counterfeiters has his business stationed at Kamiti. He has also since invested in the machine after he lost thousands of shillings to the con artists. In Kajiado, residents who spoke to Business Hub in confidence talked of weird land transactions involving millions of shillings going on there.
“Unlike in the past, where people leased land for one to two years, this time they are ready to lease for five years. Until two weeks ago, we were receiving old thousand currencies in their thousands,” said the resident who declined to give his name.
Bundles deposited
In Nairobi, some people experienced problems with Automated Teller Machines (ATMs) which did not properly reflect their deposits. A depositor, Sandra Wekesa said the ATM she used on Biashara Street only updated her account with new notes, leaving out the old 1,000 currency notes which were among the bundles deposited.
“Out of the Sh10,000 notes, 3,000 were in old currency. I realised after two hours, that only Sh7, 000 had reflected. I had to go back to the bank to enquire and luckily for me, the problem was sorted,” she said.
One of the requirements for banks across the country was to readjust their systems and reconfigure the more than 1,700 ATM across the country to receive the old notes and provide their customers with the new currency. The process included reconfiguration of ATM machines and currency counters in Meru, Nyeri and Nakuru which are operated by the CBK in collaboration with the Kenya Bankers Association (KBA).
By yesterday a number of traders, supermarkets, petrol station, eateries and entertainment spots were not accepting the Sh1,000 old banknotes, saying the want to avoid inconveniences of receiving the old Sh1,000 notes too close to the deadline.
