ADVOKS GLOBAL · KENYA
Central Bank of Kenya Act
22. Issue of notes and coins, legal tender, and withdrawal
Edition: 2026-07-24 · In force
22. Issue of notes and coins, legal tender, and withdrawal
(1)The Bank shall have the sole right to issue notes and coins in Kenya and, subject to subsection (4), only those notes and coins shall be legal tender in Kenya:Provided that coins of a denomination of fifty cents shall be legal tender only for payments up to twenty shillings, and coins of a denomination of less than fifty cents shall be legal tender only for payments up to five shillings.(2)The denominations, inscriptions, forms, material and other characteristics of the notes and coins issued by the Bank shall be determined by the Bank in consultation with the Cabinet Secretary, and shall be notified in the Gazette and in other media of public information likely to bring them to the attention of the public.(3)The Bank shall have power to withdraw any notes or coins issued by the Bank, and the procedure for and effect of any such withdrawal shall be as follows—(a)a notice published in the Gazette, and in such other manner as the Bank considers likely to bring that notice to the attention of the public, shall specify the issues, and the denominations forming part of the issues, of notes or coins that are to be withdrawn, the places where those notes or coins may be taken for exchange, and the date on which those notes or coins shall cease to be legal tender;(b)the notice given under the foregoing paragraph may provide that, after such period as may be specified in the notice, the notes or coins to which the notice applies shall only be exchanged at the head office of the Bank;(c)the notes or coins specified in a notice given under paragraph (a) shall be exchanged at their face value for legal tender at the places and for the periods (which shall be of reasonable duration) specified in relation to those places in the notice, and shall cease to be legal tender on the date specified in the notice;(d)the Bank may, by notice published in the same manner as notice given under paragraph (a), specify a period during which notes or coins which have ceased to be legal tender may nevertheless be exchanged at the head office of the bank, and after which those notes or coins shall no longer be exchanged.