Shares were traded from this bar floor at The Sarova Stanley hotel

Exchange Bar at The Sarova Stanley hotel in Nairobi Photo: Courtesy

The government recently launched M-Akiba, the world’s first mobile platform for buying government paper-bonds and treasury bills- for as little as Sh3,000 and increments of Sh100 thereafter.

The repercussions of this move are mind boggling. The government will give you a 10 per cent interest on your dough twice a year. Banks, being tightwads, slip out a measly less than five per cent as annual interest. They then use deposits from tax oppressed Kenyans to buy government paper. With the roles being reversed — and over your kabambe mobile phone means banks will have excess money. That in turn means they will have little choice besides lending it cheaply