The Central Bank of Kenya (CBK) Governor Patrick Njoroge has ruled out possibilities of extending the October 1st, 2019 deadline for the withdrawal of the old 1,000 shilling banknotes.
Addressing the press Thursday to update about progress on the roll-out of the new generation currency, Governor Njoroge said the publicity campaign on the new generation currency has been ongoing. and posters are available at all mobile money agents, banks and government institutions.
Adding that there has been information dispersed through radio and television plus an app that was launched on Wednesday.
He said recalibration of the various machines used by banks and other institutions – verification machines and ATMs – is ongoing and most verification machines have been completed, while ATMs are ongoing. Training of tellers has also happened, and is ongoing.
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” We have been in touch with other central banks, including in the EAC, but also in the rest of Africa and beyond. We have asked them to apply enhanced due diligence on any flows going in and out of our jurisdiction. They are offering their co-operation.” He said.
“We did study the Indian demonetisation exercise in detail, and we understood where their processes could have been strengthened.” He added.
He noted that people are very excited about the new generation banknotes.
On the question of why they produced polymer banknotes, the governor said after assessment, they saw in Botswana that the most immediate public reaction was concern about loss of texture. Also, we treat our banknotes quite harshly.
” Many Kenyans recognise the security thread as one of the principal security features of currency banknotes. Polymer banknotes do not accommodate security threads. There are no white surfaces on the banknotes, making it less easy for the new generation banknotes to get dirty. There is also a varnish applied to the notes to keep them cleaner.” Said the governor.
Banki au Benki?
On the banki or benki debate, Njoroge clarified that the Swahili name for bank as appearing on Kenyan currency is not a grammatical error. Njoroge said the name ‘Banki’ was selected by the Late Tom Mboya and John Michuki who were minister for Economic Planning and Permanent Secretary Treasury respectively.
” On translation back in 1964-66, the first proposal was to translate the institution’s name to Banki ya Katikati ya Kenya. Mr. Michuki (PS Finance) gently rejected it and referred the question to Mr. Mboya, who proposed that it be translated as Banki Kuu. Mr. Mboya, the Minister for Economic Planning, maintained that it was the translation of an English word, so ‘Banki’ and ‘Benki’ were both correct. It was decided deliberately that on currency, ‘Banki Kuu ya Kenya’ comes before ‘Central Bank of Kenya’. The Central Bank of Kenya Act refers to BANKI Kuu ya Kenya.” He said.
He said there will be no extension of the October 1, 2019 deadline for the withdrawal of the old 1,000 shilling banknote adding that the KCB-Imperial Bank process is at the tail end.
“We want to complete the process so that depositors can receive the disbursements. Is it a matter of months? No. Weeks? Barely.” He said.