The deadline for the exchange of the old Ksh 1,000 notes for the new currency, set for September 30, 2019, is fast approaching.
In case you are wondering what will happen to the notes after they are withdrawn from circulation, the Central Bank of Kenya is set to shred and burn the notes to ashes in Nairobi's Kariobangi area.
According to a report by The Star, the old currency will be received at the CBK branches and will later be transported in trucks to the headquarters where they will submitted.
There, they will be verified and stored in a deoxygenated room under tough supervision of trustees and senior police officers attached to the bank.
At a date set by the officials, the notes will be shredded and packed into sacks from which they will be transported to Kariobangi.
“It is a rigorous process which leaves no room for someone to think of keeping some in his or her pockets. Just like any other monies that are received at CBK, they are all under tight security,” a staff told the publication.
On June 1, 2019, during Madaraka Day celebrations, CBK Governor Patrick Njoroge noted that his team had since reached the conclusion that the Ksh1,000 notes were being used for illicit financial flows in the country and region.
30 days after he had made the speech, currency outside of banks dropped by almost a tenth, in what was a pointer to the desperation by Kenyans, some who had hidden their hard-earned cash and other who had illicit money in their homes, to beat the deadline.
One month after the ultimatum was announced, CBK disclosed that Ksh25 billion, in old Ksh 1,000 notes, was exchanged for the new currency.
