Former Kakamega Senator Boni Khawale said on Monday that changing banknotes doesn't fight corruption and the government's habitual secrecy is "tantamount to witchcraft."
Instead, he said, withdrawing the Sh1,000 notes targets "a clique of politicians" who are showing generosity by supporting the church and the needy.
He spoke at Kakamega Jamia Mosque on Monday after giving out food.
Khawale said the government came up with the Huduma Namba programme "without a proper explanation of what it was all about and we Kenyans went ahead and registered."
The government has also changed the education system "without consultation and now there are lots of wrangles," he said.
"Now we're told if we don't surrender Sh1,000 notes they will be as useless as normal paper. This is tantamount to witchcraft," Khalwale said.
The close ally of Deputy President Ruto asserted that if the government were genuine about fighting corruption, it should make Sh1,000 notes useless tender immediately.
"We are saying that if the withdrawal of the Sh1,000 notes will fight corruption, then the government should not wait until October 1. We want it to begin right away because we don’t want corruption to take a toll," Khalwale said.
On June 1, June President Uhuru Kenyatta launched the new generation banknotes with new features will replace the current ones on October 1.
People with lots of unbanked money who want to exchange it will have to go to their bank and provide many details on the source of the money and its uses if they expect to exchange more than Sh1 million, Sh10 million and Sh20 million and more.
