Grace Muthoni, a grandmother who resides in Kigumo, Murang'a County, is appealing for help after she found out that Ksh 96,000 which she had saved in the form of old notes, could not be used.
Muthoni's son, Moses Mungai, is said to have been taking his mother to the hospital when the old notes fell from her clothes.
In an interview conducted by Inooro TV, Muthoni pleaded with the government to come to her aid, stating that she had been saving the money from her farm produce.
"I pray that the government will have mercy and help me change this money because I have been sick all along," she stated.
On her part, Mungai stated that the family had gone through a hard time, narrating that his mother had been in and out of hospitals.
"I kept asking my mother if she had money but she would always say that she had none. I believed her because she is old because I didn't know she could hide such an amount of money," Mungai remarked.
Area Assistant Chief Edward Kimani stated that the area residents had been sensitized on the need to change their money before the September 30, 2019 deadline.
"It is necessary that every time such a matter is announced, the public heeds to what the government wants. I made sure that I sensitized the locals about it during the baraza's," Kimani stated.
In October 2019, Central Bank of Kenya (CBK) Governor Patrick Njoroge disclosed that following the lapse of the September 30, deadline, 7,386,000 pieces of the old Ksh 1,000 notes had not been returned.
"This meant that KSh7,386,000,000 became worthless pieces of paper," CBK announced.
The CBK also stated that the value of the unreturned notes was equivalent to the money lost by the government in the Goldenberg Scandal.
Njoroge also stated that Kenyans had demanded and equally deserved a fresh start away from corruption, and as such, the demonetization process was only a beginning.
"We cannot glorify criminals and ‘flamboyant businessmen’. We need to maintain a system that is devoid of this criminal activity," he announced.
