Boda boda riders….Photo/courtesy.
By Peter mwibanda
NAIROBI — Walk into any shop, agrovet, electronics outlet, or microfinance branch in Kenya today, and you’ll notice something deeply unsettling: Kenyans are being squeezed dry, legally.
Products and services are being sold at double — even triple — their market value, with little to no oversight. All this in the name of “business.”
The Kenyan consumer is under siege.
Across the country, reports abound of businesses — from large retailers to small neighborhood outfits — overcharging desperate consumers under the pretext of installment payments, credit services, or agency fees.
The most egregious culprits are often microfinance institutions and digital lenders which package loans with hidden charges, exorbitant interest rates, and punitive penalties.
In many cases, Kenyans are forced to pay back double or more the cost of a product simply because they couldn’t afford to pay upfront.
Take, for example, a boda boda rider who buys a motorbike worth KSh 120,000 on credit.
By the time he finishes paying through a digital loan service or a microfinance institution, he will have paid upwards of KSh 250,000 if not more including interest, fees, and penalties.
This is not financial inclusion. It is legalized exploitation.
Even more troubling is the lack of regulation and enforcement by agencies mandated to protect the consumer.
The Competition Authority of Kenya (CAK), the Central Bank and the State Department of Trade have largely watched from the sidelines, issuing occasional warnings but failing to enforce penalties on serial offenders.
Meanwhile, citizens continue to suffer under the burden of predatory pricing and unscrupulous credit schemes.
This crisis raises urgent questions:
Why aren’t the existing consumer protection laws being enforced?
Why are financial institutions allowed to charge exploitative interest rates without disclosure or transparency?
What role are regulatory bodies actually playing to uphold the spirit of The Consumer Protection Act, 2012?
It’s time for Parliament and the executive to stop treating consumer protection as a footnote in economic policy.
We either enforce the legislation we already have or amend the relevant statutory instruments to protect consumers from market abuse, financial illiteracy exploitation, and price gouging.
Kenya’s Constitution recognizes consumer rights under Article 46 — including the right to fair and honest transactions, and protection against exploitative practices. But those rights remain ink on paper if the state refuses to act.
The country needs a Consumer Protection Taskforce, mandated to investigate, audit, and penalize entities — both public and private — found guilty of exploitative practices.
Parliament should consider capping interest rates and installment markups for products, particularly where citizens are accessing essential goods like farm equipment, school items, or transport tools.
At stake is not just fairness in the market — but economic dignity for millions of struggling Kenyans. The alternative is a worsening cycle of poverty, debt traps, and social unrest as citizens lose trust in institutions meant to protect them.
Kenya must choose: protect profit margins for the powerful, or protect its people from being priced out of dignity.
