There is undoubtedly a bad blood between members of the national assembly and the Central Bank of Kenya (CBK) Governor Patrick Njoroge.
The current state of affairs is threatening the career of Prof Njoroge as the regulator of the banking sector.
Already MPs have threatened to block his reappointment, accusing the governor of imposing his own “regulations” on the banking sector, saying such regulations have stifled liquidity in the economy.
For instance, one cannot withdraw more than Sh1 million a day or make big deposits without attracting the hawk-eyed Financial Reporting Centre, which is responsible for to detecting and reporting such transactions.
The governor is also accused of using circulars and memos to regulate banking rather than through regulations that must be approved by the National Assembly.
This comes even as the MPs prepare for a session with him on Tuesday on the status of the CBK regulations, and why he has not honoured invitations to appear before the National Assembly’s Finance and National Planning committee.
In 2018, MPs passed the Finance Act, which requires the CBK boss to publish regulations governing the banking industry within 30 days of their coming into force.
Almost six months down the line, there are no regulations before the House, prompting Suna MP Junet Mohamed, who is also the Minority Whip, to seek the intervention of House Speaker Justin Muturi.
“What the CBK Governor is doing in the financial sector is unacceptable and illegal. You cannot just wake up one morning and do something irregular in the form of a circular to the financial sector.
“His term is coming to an end in March. This House should not renew it. We must deal with him,” Mr Junet said, adding that the circulars have made it mandatory to fill forms whenever “you want to appropriate your own money”, making most Kenyans resort to “pillow” banking.
Mr Duale said the rules “should not make it so difficult for people doing genuine business because he has turned banks into documentation bureaus”.