Worry as shilling weakens further

A section of Kenyans has voiced their concern on social media concerning the weakening of Kenyan shilling.

The Kenyan shilling weakened further on Wednesday against the US Dollar to trade at 104.02. This was linked to the incident where the now-former Finance Minister Henry Rotich and other senior government officials were charged in court with various offenses related to the award of two dam construction tenders.

Early morning Tuesday, commercial banks quoted the shilling at 103.65/85 per dollar, compared with 103.50/70 at Monday's close.

The shilling is down 0.5 percent since the charges against the minister were announced on Monday morning.

"The currency has lost due to market jitters about the arrest of the finance minister. It has created a power vacuum in Treasury albeit temporarily," said a senior currency trader from a Nairobi commercial bank.

@kigothomartins on twitter wrote 

Free fall of the shilling against the hard currencies. The price of corruption. Am with you when you blame the President and his Deputy for the current economic crisis. Blame lies squarely on them.

@Karuru9on twitter wrote 

 While that is the evidence, we are left to give it meaning. My conjecture - the shilling is not falling due to the vacancies in the treasury. It is falling for the absence of assurance Mr. Henry Rotich provided to evil. Evil Inc needs to drop the hoaded shillings in a hurry.