Piece by: PURITY WANGUI

28 September 2022

• The presser was to start at 12:30 pm but was delayed due to the changes in attendance.

President William Ruto explained that he purposed to attend the Safaricom meeting because he was sent by their customers.

Speaking during a joint presser with CEOs of Safaricom, KCB and NCBA, Ruto said his presence was for the sake of those who could not access the Safaricom offices.

"I was actually planning to come to you to have this meeting with you. I have been sent by your customers. The people who cannot make it to your offices or the negotiating table. The people want a mutually beneficial relationship, win-win out of this relationship," he said.

The presser was to start at 12:30 pm but was delayed due to the changes in attendance.

This comes after Safaricom announced that they would reduce their Fuliza daily charges on over drafts by 50 per cent.

In an announcement on Wednesday, Safaricom, NCBA and KCB banks announced the reduction, which according to the company is a move that will help the overdraft services' use growth.

“We have continued to assess the evolution of consumer behaviour and economic conditions to identify ways in which we can further enhance the utility of our digital financial services,” Fuliza said in a statement.

"Towards this end, we are introducing a new discounted tariff of up to 50% on Fuliza."

In the changes, borrowers of between Sh101 to Sh500 will be charged a daily fee of Sh3, down from Sh5.

Any overdraft above Sh501 to Sh1,000 will attract a daily fee of Sh6 down from Sh10.

The new tariff takes effect on October 1, 2022.

Fuliza further announced that overdrafts of less than Sh1,000 will have a three-day waiver on daily fees.

The overdraft capped at Sh70,000 will see those taking between Sh1,001 to Sh1,500, Sh10 less in the daily charges down from Sh20. This will be a 50 per cent discount.

Sh1,501 to Sh2,500 will have users pay Sh12.5 in daily fees, down from Sh25, representing a 50 per cent discount.

Users who will overdraft Sh2,501 to Sh70,000 will also have a 50 per cent discount. This will see users have a daily fee of Sh15 down from the initial Sh30.