From Thursday the 26th of September 2019 (4 days before the 30th of September 2019 deadline) set by the Central Bank of Kenya Safaricom M-Pesa shops will no longer accept the old 1,000 Kenyan Shillings currency notes.
The telecommunications giant via information sent to its regional outlets on Saturday the 21st of September announced that, “Safaricom will not take old notes after September 26, to allow us bank in time.”
The Central Bank of Kenya (CBK) announced 2 weeks ago that there are now enough new generation Kenyan Shillings notes in circulation, and has urged Kenyans to replace their old currency notes before the deadline.
By the end of August 2019, an estimated figure of 100 million pieces of the old 1,000 Kenyan Shillings notes have been returned to the Central Bank of Kenya (CBK) ahead of the 30th of September 2019 deadline.
The 100 million pieces are about 50 percent of the total number of old 1,000 Kenyan Shillings notes in circulation.
The Governor of the Central Bank of Kenya (CBK) governor; Patrick Njoroge, urged Kenyans to remind their and grandmothers and mothers about the deadline for the old 1000 Kenyan Shillings currency notes.
The Governor said via Twitter that, “Our mothers and grandmothers are epic savers. They may have some money around their homes.”
“Please check on them and remind them of the deadline of September 30 for exchanging the older Sh 1000 notes.”, he added.
According to The Star, the old 1,000 currency notes being taken back, will be shredded and burned into ashes in Nairobi’s Kariobangi area.
Once the old currency notes have been received at the Central Bank of Kenya (CBK) branches, they will be transported in trucks to the headquarters where they will be verified and stored in a deoxygenated room, under the strict supervision of senior police officers and trustees attached to the bank.
The top officials will then pick a date within a week, where when the collected old currency notes will be shredded and packed in sacks before being transported to Kariobangi North; close to the market, where they will be set on fire under the watch of armed police officers.
