CS Fred Matiang'i: Why there is a shortage of Sh100 and Sh200 notes

He added: "Because politicians are bribing villagers. People are not working, they are standing on the roadside to get Sh200 and so on from this money laundering."

Matiang'i noted that after elections, 40 people that will be elected are active players in money laundering and trafficking.

The CS noted that there was a political will to deal with the problem of money laundering.

The Taskforce was appointed to coordinate and conduct the National Money laundering and Terrorism Financing Risk Assessment exercise whose objective was to identify and assess the level and trends of Money laundering Terrorism Financing and Proliferation Financing in the Country.

It is not clear whether there has been a shortage of the Sh200 notes.

However, data from the Central Bank of Kenya shows that there was an increase of Sh18.5 billion of cash outside of banks in the first four months of this year compared to an increase of Sh6.6 billion in the same period last year.

Much of the increase, analysts say, has been due to the electioneering with politicians getting money to bribe voters.

"They are laundering themselves into these elective institutions," said Matiang'i.

The Money Laundering and Terrorism Financing National Risk Assessment Report (NRA) assessed the banking sector as having the highest impact on Kenya's ML/TF risk profile due to the pivotal role it plays in facilitating payments, trade and investments in Kenya and the region.