U.S. Embassy to stop accepting old Ksh.1,000 notes after September 12

The U.S. Embassy in Nairobi has announced it will not accept the old generation 1,000 Kenya shilling notes after September 12, 2019 ahead of the October 1st deadline when the notes will cease to be legal tender.

“The U.S. Embassy’s consular section will not accept old Ksh.1,000 notes after September 12, 2019. This is due to the directive of the Central Bank of Kenya that 1,000 shilling notes of the old design will no longer be legal tender on October 1, 2019,” said the Embassy in a tweet on Thursday.

The lesser bills of Ksh.500, Ksh.200, Ksh.100, and Ksh.50 will, however, be accepted by the embassy as per the CBK directive.

According to the Central Bank, the old Ksh.1,000 notes should be out of circulation by October 1 this year.

Speaking during the unveiling of the new generation notes at this year’s Madaraka Day celebrations in Narok, CBK Governor Patrick Njoroge said the move is intended to fight counterfeit practises.

“All the older Ksh.1000 series shall be withdrawn. All persons have until October 1, 2019 to exchange these notes, after which the older ones will cease to be legal tender,” he said.