Business people praise Uhuru for 'bold move' to cap interests

A cross section of business people in Mombasa on Wednesday praised President Uhuru Kenyatta for his “bold move” after he assented to the Banking Amendment Act 2015.

The law, which has faced opposition from various quarters, is intended to cap interest rates to not more than four per cent above the Central Bank of Kenya Rate.

Kenya National Chamber of Commerce and Industry (KNICC) Mombasa chapter chairman James Mureu said the President’s action was “historic”.

“We have been living in fear of banks and most Kenyans could not access affordable credit. The President has defied the prophets of doom and shown that he is with the people of Kenya,” he said.  

Mr Anthony Murithi, an adviser at Kenya Projects, a property development firm, said the banking sector would now be regulated and it would be easy for Kenyans to access funds from banks.

“Kenyans will now be able to walk into banks and secure mortgage without fearing that the rates will shoot up within a short period of time,” he said.

“The era of banks waking up one day and raising interest rates over flimsy reasons will be a thing of the past. This is what we have been waiting for and the President has demonstrated that he is for the common man,” he added.

According to Mr James Sirro, Tax Watch Africa chairman, the assent to the Bill was a step in the right direction.

“There has been a lot of resistance from lobbies, banks, Treasury and Central Bank of Kenya itself. This is historic, given that the law has been in the works and has been shot down since the 1990s when Joe Donde introduced it in Parliament,” he said.

Car Importers Association of Kenya (CIAK) chairman Peter Otieno said capping interest rates was good for the economy. “More middle class Kenyans will be able to access funding and buy vehicles to do business,” he added.