Siaya man ponders what to do with Sh500,000 worthless notes – VIDEO
Mr Julius Odinga Mboga, a resident of the sleepy Sirondha village in Gem, Siaya County, is seriously distressed. Reason? Tucked under his mattress is Sh500,000 in the old Sh1,000 notes.
Somehow, the retired mechanic at Brook Bond Kenya Limited in Limuru failed to beat the September 30 deadline for returning the notes.
When the Nation went to his home, Mr Mboga, 60, was just about to leave for a second visit to the Central Bank of Kenya (CBK) in Kisumu, to try and exchange his old notes.
His attempt to have the bank exchange the money on Monday had failed. The money was part of his retirement package from his former employer.
Bank slips seen by the Nation show that Mr Mboga withdrew Sh200,000 from his account at Equity Bank in Siaya on June 14 this year, before withdrawing another Sh300,000 on July 16.
“I went to a hotel, but when I tried to pay for the meal with Sh1,000 note, they told me the currency was no longer in use,” he said.
Asked why he did not surrender the notes before the September 30 deadline, he said he was misled by the reminder by CBK on the currency, which, it turns out, he misread.
But Mr Mboga’s brother, Mr Joseph Ouko, and his sister-in-law, Ms Jackline Otieno, say neighbours and motorcycle operators misled him.
“We asked him whether he had the old Sh1,000 notes before the CBK deadline but he refused to tell us. The people he interacts with outside the home told him that his brothers would take all his money if they knew he was keeping it,” Ms Otieno said.
Helpless and distraught, Mr Mboga, who was planning to venture into the transport business, now sees his dreams turning into a nightmare.
He hopes that the government will come to his rescue and give him the new notes for his old ones.