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I am not an economist. In the course of life however, I have interacted with enough economists and economics to understand slightly more than the difference between macro and microeconomics. For one, I definitely understand that economic challenges do not lend themselves to straightforward one-track solutions. For this reason, I am wary of the Jude Njomo Bill, which purports to fix the high interest rates problem by capping interest and deposit rates by law. This Bill, and the philosophy that informs it, are not new.
Last year Gem MP Jakoyo Midiwo made a similar attempt, which came a cropper courtesy of constitutional technicalities. But the father of this philosophy is undeniably Joe Donde, who was interestingly also an MP for Gem! Donde single handedly forced the banks to reign in their gluttonous behaviour. He went on to form the Interest Rates Advisory Centre which for several years was the “must go to” place for struggling borrowers. Most Kenyans are not aware that many banks quietly refunded their customers millions in wrongly charged interest courtesy of this great Kenyan.
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