Banking halls in Kenya are the modern “torture chambers” for the aged

Author Reference

Benard, L. (2015): Banking halls in Kenya are the modern “torture chambers” for the aged. Intel Fire Group of Companies Blog. Nairobi, Kenya.

 

Banking halls in Kenya for a long time have been viewed as the modern “torture chambers” for the average modern Kenyan adult citizen whose below 100 thousand account balance does not attract the attention of the bank manager to get a direct service. This is usually in complete contrast to the considered elite whose over one million plus account balance does not only attracts the personal service of the bank manager but also an official tour of the bank’s inner office for familiarization. In some of the local banks the elderly women and men are forced to queue in one line with the other customers. This condition is made worse when the bank has only one queue for all the services and a scenario of only two tellers in operation. Kenyan banks have come a long way and so is technology that is slowly changing the reception of banking services. The banking sector has varying cadre of members from children under their guardians to the mature adult citizens whose link with the bank may only be the pension or the government stipend they are receiving at the end of every month.

The major Kenyan banks should introduce a special teller that only serves the aged, the expectant women, the disable, and those with special conditions that cannot allow them to stand in a queue. If this is not possible then there should be a bank customer care agent that directs these individuals to the front of the line, of course, to the detriment of the Kenyans whose knees have endured the torture for hours. This again points to our society that has changed over time and the communal responsibility of respect for adults diminishing in thin air of “Everyone for himself and GOD for us all”. Long gone are the days the able youths, for example in a bank queue will offer that old Mzee or that old Nyanya to take over their position in the queue. Standing in queue when the disadvantaged people jump the line in some instances leads to outrageous emotional harassment of the persons and in cases where the person involved is aged may lead to a curse by the old mzee (again just quoting an old African belief). Remembering that all sovereign power belongs to the people on the queue, the adult aged citizen are left with no option than to go through the long torturous process with the only comfort being the mounted television sets that does not even make it any better as the programmes aired targeting youths with their half-naked bare knuckles actors. The adult citizens who have been members of the bank for the last three decades in solidarity of appreciation and respect should be accorded a special preference at the banking halls.

The Ideal Situation

One of the foreign banks realized the need to reduce the process of stand-in-line service delivery and introduced a queue system management (QSM). According to this system in some of the selected uptown (so they are not in your village) banks in Kenya eliminates the physical line by allowing the customers to walk into the bank and first select the service they want on a touch screen kiosk and pick a ticket. They are then ushered into a waiting comfortably soft seat within the bank where they can monitor their ticket number progressing on an LCD screen and once it is displayed it will also be read out loudly on a speaker specifying the teller number the customer is to report to. This system automatically tracks the customer volumes, their waiting times and transaction times. All these are linked to the business intelligence within queue management system.

Even though the queue management system does not eliminate the element of queuing at the bank, at least for the aged it is more human as they only have to wait on a provided seat and do not have to keep changing from one seat to another to move close on the queue. It also gives them comfort as they watch forex numbers they have no idea about and develop keen interest and even get enlightened on the banks displayed adverts on investment management as many are not interested in investing but managing what they have invested over the years. This, good people, is the ideal situation that is currently lacking in the so called modern banks operating in village towns across the country. But again it must be appreciated that this article is directed at special consideration for the banks adult customers who are aged. The banks should remember the old good saying that “Old is Gold”.

The writer is a PhD Generalist in Public Safety Service Delivery