This archive report was first published on 7 November 2019.
On November 6, 2019, a crucial vote on the presidential memorandum on interest rate caps law took place in the National Assembly, but it was marred by a significant absence of lawmakers.
According to Speaker Justin Muturi, a total of 270 MPs were present in the House, but only 161 were in the chamber when a head count was taken ahead of the vote.
This meant that 109 MPs entered the chamber and left before the vote was taken, which ultimately aided President Uhuru Kenyatta's bid to remove a cap on commercial lending rates.
The interest rate cap law, enacted in September 2016, had capped commercial lending rates at not more than four percent above the Central Bank of Kenya base lending rate.
However, with the repeal of the law, the possibility of a return to expensive credit, which had touched a high of 25 percent in 2016, was reopened.
Despite the quorum hitch, MPs managed to amend the Finance Bill, 2019 to shield existing loans from higher interest rates once Section 33B of the Banking Act is repealed.
President Kenyatta is set to sign the Finance Bill, automatically securing the repeal of the rate cap law following MPs' failure to raise the 233 members required to overturn his memo.
