Mathira MP Rigathi Gachagua supports President Uhuru Kenyatta’s decree to raise the threshold of cash transactions stating that the anti-money laundering (AML) laws also hindered him from banking some of the money he makes.
According to Gachagua, many Kenyans including himself have stopped banking owing to the regulations that require individuals to account for all cash transactions above Ksh.1 million.
”What has happened is that many people have stopped banking. I myself don’t bank some of the money that I make from my farm. Why? Because I have to explain how and where I got the money. When I was planting nobody asked me questions but when I want to deposit the money I have made after a harvest I have to do so,” he explained.
“The government is supposed to offer services but they brought too much governance into people’s lives. For you to deposit a million shillings in a financial institution, you have to answer too many questions. We Africans are not even comfortable discussing the number of cows or sheep we have. It is against our tradition and so is money.”
Gachagua continued on to say that there are some businesses that only operate on the premise of cash transactions and anything else is acceptable.
“I have construction works and whenever I go to buy sand from a supplier, they expect me to pay for the product in cash. The same applies when paying construction workers. When I pay them for a job all they want is cash since a lot of them don’t even have bank accounts,” the Mathira MP said.
Gachagua was also of the opinion that raising the cash threshold by Ksh. 4 million will bring more money into circulation.
“In my own proposal the threshold should be around 5 million shillings. That should be the largest amount you can withdraw or deposit in cash. That will bring money into circulation. People are private in nature and it is not because they are crooks or anything like that,” he concluded.
