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Dear Kenyans, once again we want to be treated to the theatrics of the neo-colonialists who together with some of our beloved people want to see us revert to the old bad days when banking or financial services was a preserve of a few rich individuals. Banks used to collect deposits from our villages but never lent that money in those villages. This created a vicious conduit of not only impoverishing our country and our people but ensuring that we continued being servants and beggars; and looking up to our International Mother & Father and other like minded institutions for handouts and loans at their own terms /conditional ties.

 Dear Kenyans like you I remember that the
only few banks which were then operating, a big number of them being
multi-nationals it was unheard of for farmers, civil servants, jua
kali people and ordinary Kenyans to operate accounts there leave
alone borrowing. Banking was for who was who in Kenya. My fellow
Kenyans why are we forgetting that it even came to a point where
without consultation, a few of us who believed in these banks were
actually chased like thieves, our accounts closed and told to go to
where we belong. Majority of Kenyans like me were left in the
wilderness with no banking services. Many like me were grateful that
Equity Bank came to our rescue. We found an institution by then a
building society, which readily accepted us into their banking halls.
Equity took us in despite our a meagre monies, was not concerned
whether I was self employed in the Jua kali sector, a civil servant,
a farmer or generally a hard working Kenyan trying to make ends meet.
Equity knew I just needed a bank where I could keep my hard-earned
monies safely, period.

Dear Kenyans I am amazed and greatly disturbed, troubled and
extremely offended by the heinous and evil authors of anonymous
letters and smses targeted at discrediting Equity Bank which came to
my rescue if not of many Kenyans. Of late, the anonymous letters are
being handed over bank counters, sent to all postal addresses in
Kenya ,emails and posted on blog sites. This has made me carry a
research and as an accountant, as a Kenyan first of all and an
African I think I do have a responsibility to inform my fellow
Kenyans so that we don't go back to the old dark yester years. Who
could be the authors of this hate campaign, what is it that they
would gain, what does it mean to them, for whose good is it?

Kenyans allow me to explain this. The genesis of all this I suspect
came from a letter, which was tabled in our parliament by one of our
"honorable" members. The said member could not substantiate the said
letter and soon the same letters started going round. My hypothesis
is that these hate campaign started with the success of Equity Bank
amongst other local indigenous financial institutions. The success
story of Equity bank has meant that the players who used to be in
charge are being threatened. When Equity ventured out of Nairobi,
Central and Eastern Provinces, where it was very successful and moved
into hitherto very calm territories of other players i.e. Western,
Nyanza, the North Rift, North Eastern & Coast then some feathers were
ruffled. The banking institutions which used to lord over in these
areas unchecked had been aroused. Their safe havens were no longer
safe. These used to be their rich milking grounds, which contributed
significantly to their balance sheet and profits. Equity was becoming
too much and the challenge was huge. The multi national banks used to
have a field day here. Unfortunately they could not match anything
that Equity was doing may it be the banks products which were cheap
but also the delivery of service. We were being treated like people
and not account numbers. As the multinationals could not beat Equity
on products and services, then a smear campaign had to be started and
the multinationals ganged up. Being clever, they have also considered
that they could take us for a ride especially now that elections are
around the corner and all the noise that goes with elections. The
smear campaign is designed to cast doubts on Equity despite how well
Equity performs. It is an evil design to shake public confidence in
Equity. Please sample this:

These are the same banks that closed their rural branches and when
Kenyans pleaded with them, they were told to go where they belonged.
They raised their minimum balances to Kshs.10,000/ - and Kshs.30,000/ -
respectively and closed the accounts of Kenyans without due regard of
where Kenyans could receive even their salaries. I shiver when I
remember how I was tossed from one branch to another and head office
trying to locate my salary. I was treated worse than a beggar. As
Kenyans, we need not to be reminded that these banks represent the
ownership and beneficial ownership of our colonial masters and
perpetuators of apartheid, racial discrimination to our fellow
Africans in South Africa. The wealth that these foreign banks make
does not develop our country but go to enrich their motherlands
Britain and South Africa etc. For how long as Kenyans shall we
continue to be used as conveyor belts of transferring our resources
to the west?

What is laughable is that these foreign banks, BBK, StanChart etc
today have reversed their strategies. They are now re-opening their
rural branches and have lowered their account opening and operating
balances. In their desperate attempts to hoodwink Kenyans, they have
introduced the dangerous consumer unsecured lending which is being
promoted through tented kiosks in the streets and casual hawking
using drums and even offering uji in banking halls. Do they assume
Kenyans are so daft that we can be swayed by the dancing and uji
offering theatrics? Are we this cheap?

When Kenyans were chased out of these banks, they trooped to Equity
Bank, which became the new home for Kenyans of middle and low income.
Equity as their June 2007 figures shows has over 1.3 million accounts,
accounting for nearly 36% of all bank accounts in the country. Equity
offers ledger free accounts, account maintenance fee free accounts.
Equity maintains zero account opening and account operating minimum
balances. Equity bank is the only bank whose charge over the counter
withdrawal is Kshs.50/- while Barclays and Standard charge over the
counter is over 10 times at Kshs.500/- to Kshs.600/- respectively.
Equity allows customers to deposit free of charge while this foreign
banks charge 0.25% cash deposit fee. Who is fooling who?

The design is to destabilize Equity Bank so that Kenyans can troop
back to their new neo-colonialism net of economic exploitation
through their recently opened branches. I am reliably informed that
their strategy will fail if they do not destabilize and eventually
kill Equity and hence reasons they are hell-bent to malign Equity.
Unfortunately, these multinationals cannot be able to raise any
Corporate and performance issues because since becoming a commercial
bank, Equity has been rated better than Barclays for 3 consecutive
years (Refer to Market Intelligence and Bank Survey for year 2005,
2006 and recently 2007). Read the papers particularly on Barclays
Bank and internal fraud, a poor teacher Kenya Shillings 580,000 loan
diverted to staff account due to fraud by a Barclays bank staff. This
is just a tip of the ice berg.

As an accountant I went further to investigate all the issues raised
in the anonymous letters and even a circulating letter purposed to be
signed by a former director of Equity Bank Wanjiku Mugane and below
are my findings;-

Wanjiku Mugane was a director of Equity until July 2006 when she was
sacked by the bank for insubordination and working for foreign banks
to leak out trade & strategy secrets. Within 2 weeks of being sacked,
Wanjiku's Company First Africa Capital was acquired by Standard
Chartered Bank a proof that she had been acting as a mole inside
Equity. (Read Standard Newspaper StanChart acquires 25 pc equity
stake in First Africa Published on July 18, 2006 ).

African colonialist at her best.

The CEO shareholding: The CEO's shareholding stands at 7.2%, which is
above the 5% prescribed by Central Bank of Kenya prudential
guidelines. The CEO in September 2005 while submitting the banks
listing had signed among other shareholders a bond with CMA to hold
his shares for a period of 2 years. This bond became a contract with
the investing public because it was included in the banks prospectus
or information memorandum. In June 2006, nearly 1 year after the
public contract the CBK introduced the prudential guidelines that
previously prescribed 25% by reducing the limit of CEO shareholding
to 5%. Caught between the 2 complicating laws the CEO applied to CBK
and CMA to consider the situation and advice him on how to comply
with the conflicting laws. As would have been expected the public
contract had greater implication to the bank and the CEO was granted
exemption to the 5% rule for the period of bond up to August 2008.
This was the only prudent and logical thing that any rational being
could have done.

Governance: Equity Board is made of professionals of great repute.
Sample this Dr. Julius Kipngetich the MD of Kenya Wildlife Services
and formerly of Kenya Investment Promotion Centre, a leading
management and strategic guru in Kenya. Mr. Ernest Nzovu a Director
of Hawkins and Associates, the leading Human Resource Consultant in
the country. Mr. Linus Gitahi the Group Chief Executive of Nation
Media Group and previously the MD of GSK (GlaxoSmithKline) in
Nigeria. Mr. Benson Wairegi, the Group Managing Director of British
American Investment Co. Ltd previously Audit manager with
Pricewaterhousecoop ers. What of James Mwangi a UN Advisor on
Inclusive Financial Sectors and a 2007 Global Vision Award winner in
Microfinance along side Noble Laurent Winner 2007 Prof. Muhammad
Yunus of Grameen Bank, Mr. Wagane Diouf of Senegal and the Managing
Partner of Africap Microfinance Fund based in South Africa. These are
the professionals among other board members who have proven their
worth in the organizations they are leading.

Capital injected in 2003 constituted Kshs.120 million fresh capital.
The Kshs.120 million injection was by the IFC & EIB through Africap
Fund who became the single biggest shareholder with 16% shareholding.
See audited accounts 2003/2004. It is naïve to mislead the Kenya
public that this was a capital injection by the CEO and MD while it
is a fact that can be ascertained, no wonder he has not found it
necessary to waste his breath and loose his focus by responding.

I have established from an independent audit carried out by
world-renowned KPMG & the Information Memorandum that Equity Banks
CEO shareholding in the bank is as follows; for the CEO to have 19.8
million shares today, which benefited from bonus shares and share
split he had roughly invested around Kshs 7.5 million by 1999 before
the first split. He invested a further Kshs 25 million equivalent to
183,823 shares in 2004 out of the initial investors who formed Equity
Bank with kshs.725 million. The CEO has benefited like any other
shareholder of Equity from the banks rapid growth and its
profitability and its retention policy with subsequent capitalization
of revenue reserves from Bonus shares. The same is true for all other
staff members whose shareholding has been questioned, maximum
investments of 4million Kenya shillings in year 2000 . Do the math's
its not that hard.

Equity's visionary leadership introduced shareholding scheme in 1997
and the management like other employees have participated in the
shareholding. Thanks to the visionary leadership.

Equity Loan Book The bank has one of the best loan books in the
country. The global credit rating of South Africa in April 2007 rated
the bank both short-term and long-term loan A+ while Microrate of USA
has rated Equity as a high global performer of the investment grade.

Leadership and succession planning. The leadership of the bank is in
the hands of 8 distinguished board members whose standing in society
and reputation is excellent. Equity with due respect to other boards
is one of the best boards. The management of the bank is in the hands
of highly experienced bankers and managers. Sample the following; 2007
Global Vision Award winner in microfinance, Former Marketing Director,
of GSK for Eastern and West Africa, Former Head of Shared Services of
Standard Chartered Bank covering 14 countries and formerly the
Finance Director in Tanzania and Zimbabwe, Former Human Resources
Manager for Colman for Africa and Middle East, etc. These are Kenyan
leaders who we should be proud of. They have proven their performance
by making Equity the Best rated Kenyan owned bank for 3 consecutive
years, driving the bank with the lowest charges yet the highest
return on Equity and on Assets due to the high level of efficiency
and the most innovative bank developing products appropriate for
Kenyans which now banks are falling over each other to ape.

Procurement of Banking Software The malicious hate campaign in the
emails circulating indicates the bank acquired its banking software
at a cost of Kshs.1 billion. The actual figure of the Finacle banking
software as per the quotation is only US$1.6 million see the KPMG
report and annual Audited accounts 2005,2006 or Kshs.110 million only
at the exchange rate of Ksh.67/- to the dollar. One out-rightly sees
the much exaggeration to create doubt on Corporate Governance. The
Fixed Assets schedule in the audited accounts of the bank is very
clear.

NSE Share Valuation for Equity Shares The allegations that Equity
Bank's shares price is manipulated at the Nairobi Stock Exchange
cannot be supported by figures. Market mechanisms are beyond
manipulation in an electronic market. The facts bear and support
Equity's superior pricing as at 30th June 2007.

Institution ROA ROA ROE ROE P/E

(Before tax) (After tax) (Before tax) (After tax) Ratio

Equity Bank 6.94 5.55 72.79 58.23 45.79

Barclays 5.20 3.62 44.86 31.24 22.66

Standard 4.95 3.42 43.16 29.82 20.62

Banking Industry Av. 3.85 2.72 34.15 24.19 26.89

Looking at the figures, Equity's Return on Equity and Return on
Assets after Tax is nearly 2 times that of either Standard or
Barclays bank hence its pricing earning ratio is also double. Figures
never lie. Comparing Equity with the industry average it is performing
at least 2½ times better than the industry average and hence can even
support a higher price earning ratio than is currently the case.

Allegations of Being a Favored Bank. From the figures, Equity's
growth is from the liability side as opposed from the Asset side. It
had Kshs.23 billion in deposits spread over 1.3 million customers and
only Kshs.14 billion in loans held by 280,000 loan customers. We
should remember that Equity has been a darling of many Kenyans
because it developed its products appropriately priced them
affordably and made them accessible through their large rural branch
network. No wonder again for more than 5 years it has been the
fastest growing bank in Kenya. Let us stop allegations and
insinuations that are out rightly wrong. On the contrary Barclays and
Standard Chartered are the major beneficially of all government donor
financed projects and a sizeable number of parastatals. By the way,
should it be the time our government reviewed this policy if it is
truly a government of Kenyans? It should be banking with Kenyan
institutions as a sign of faith in the Kenyan people. After all
Equity is rated strongly than Barclays and is listed in NSE and
priced by the market better than these multinationals.

To the Kenyan public Let us stop being misled through propaganda to
destabilize the bank we created when we were chased like thieves out
of foreign banks. We are being hoodwinked to the neo-colonialists of
today. For a longtime, nearly 100 years that BBK and Stanchart have
been in Kenya, they have only been paying lip services to their
social responsibility as corporate citizens. With its meagre
resources, Equity bank has been sponsoring Kenyans (best girl) and
(best boy) in their KCSE in every district of operation for their
university education as a way of giving back since 1997. Recently my
wife who is a teacher in one of the primary schools informs me that
for the last 3 years Equity has been sponsoring Kenyans children
under the theme of "Our culture and values ? indigenizing our
investments) through the Kenya National School and Colleges drama and
music festivals. Equity has spent money and light up Thika Road ,
Outering, Gikomba and Ladhies Road together with parts of Jogoo Road.
What has these multinationals done for all these decades they have
been milking us?

The truth needs to be told and it is time as Kenyans we took
responsibility for the sake of our children. With Equity empowering
the ordinary Kenyans through savings and loans, we would expect our
children to live better lives than ourselves. We must open our eyes
to see the evil designs of the economic neo-colonialists in the
foreign banks.

As an enlightened people together with the financial elites in this
country it is time we stopped seeing Equity as the bank of the low
income. Equity is highly rated better than these multinationals and
we need to start banking with it since our money would be safe and
would be working through small loans to uplift the living standards
of our people and fellow Kenyans; and hence bringing equity by
bridging the gap between the rich and poor for long-term stability of
our country. Let us continue asking ourselves these questions:

If Equity is doomed to fail, why are other banks literally hawking to
ape them?

What about the Muhindi banks? Check them out. Even the multi
nationals, who owns them? How come nobody talks about them?
Let me hit to other areas:
How many Banks will sit down and listen to you even when all you have
is a credible idea? Only Equity.
How many Banks will assist a black man/woman procure a Bid Bond for
Tendering processes? Only one, Equity.
How many banks will open branches at locations that are considered
shit by other banks because the people residing there are shit? Only
Equity.
How many truly successful banks are there in Africa that can truly be
called indigenous? Only Equity.
Why is Equity under so much hate pressure? Because anyone successful
is disliked and especially us Africans maybe Kenyans we are worse
majority of us have PHDs...Pull Him/Her Down. Are there some lessons
we can learn from our Nigerian brothers and sisters. First Nigeria
then the World. Why can't we have Kenyan First then the rest of the
world?
What should Equity do in light of this kind of PR? Continue with what
they are doing. At least Kenyans are more informed and knowledgeable
to know and appreciate that only Kenyans shall develop and grow Kenya
not the foreigners.
May Equity continue to serve Kenyans. Do you remember the person who
started a bank in Bangladesh to assist the poor and low-income
people? Equity is doing the same thing. It is a great pity that such
a noble idea should be met with such hostility. However, this is not
the first time, neither the last that it will happen.
Africanus Scipio was once advised in a dream by his great grand dad:

"Mark this, for this thought will steel your determination to rush to
the defense of the people you serve. Every man who has preserved or
defended his country, or has made it greater, is reserved a special
place in heaven, where he enjoys an eternal life of happiness."
Concerning yourself, never lose hope that you might come back here
one day. For this is the place which offers great and magnificent men
their true reward, for all fame or glory you win among mere human
beings should simply be ignored, since such fame and glory can
scarcely be said to be eternal if it cannot last one Great Year. Fix
your gaze upwards, then! Think on this place, a dwelling place for
all eternity! Then you will no longer have any use for what the
masses might say about you or for any human rewards, your
achievements may merit. Rather, let Virtue herself, by her own unclad
beauty; call you to a true and genuine glory.
Ignore what people say about you, for they will say it anyway and
whatever words they may say will not pass beyond the narrow bounds
you see below you. Nothing anyone has ever said has ever abided, for
when people die, their words die, too; the future forgets them and
tosses them on the rubbish heap of oblivion."

Mahatma Gandhi once said- First they ignore you, then they laugh at
you, then they Fight You AND THEN YOU WIN!!! God Bless us as we
liberate ourselves from mental slavery!!

We can only reclaim OUR WEALTH if we have indigenous banks that work
for us and with us. May Equity continue to serve Kenyans by
empowering them to drive Kenya and the rest of Africa . Bravo Equity
for showing that we can truly be proud as Kenyans and as Africans.
May you be blessed for giving us back our dignity, confidence, self
worth and self respect which had been taken away.

Equity we are behind you for truly, this is our country and no
foreigner should tell us how to manage our affairs. We will support
you because truly you have shown you are a world-class organization,
no wonder you were voted the Best Bank in Kenya by Euromoney Awards
for Excellence 2007. Wenye wivu shauri yao na wajinyoge!!! !.

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