A police officer on Wednesday evening sought refuge at an army barracks as he tried to get away from auctioneers.
Police Constable Joseph Kinuthia drove into the barracks at Embakasi Garrison, Nairobi, as auctioneers chased him trying to repossess his vehicle, Honda CRV.
Kinuthia is said to have defaulted on a loan for a year, disabled the car tracker and dodged calls from the lender.
“The policeman was accused of threatening the auctioneers every time they got hold of him and tried to seize the car,” the report filed at Embakasi Police Station read.
During the 6.25 pm ordeal, Kinuthia forced his way into the barracks and at some point pulled out his firearm threatening to kill one of the auctioneers.
The officers manning the gate did however manage to disarm Kinuthia who was held at Embakasi Police Station.
The auctioneers were also arrested to allow further probe into the matter.
Read: Bank Loans Worth Ksh73 Billion Defaulted In 10 Months
Data from the Central Bank of Kenya (CBK) in January showed that Kenyans defaulted bank loans worth Ksh73 billion in the 10 months to December 2020.
As of March 2020, the total value of loans defaulted was Ksh351.73 billion, but the amount had increased to Ksh423 billion or 14.1 percent of the total Ksh3 trillion loan book.
The hike was been attributed to the effects of Covid-19 where at least 1.72 million workers lost jobs in three months to June when Kenya imposed a lockdown.
“Credit risk remains elevated and that is expected given where the economy is. We have done some analyses and assuming that the economy remains flat and the benefits of reopening the economy do not come through, NPLs will rise to 16 or 17 percent of gross loans,” said CBK Governor Dr Patrick Njoroge.
“Those numbers are still manageable because banks have been doing what they needed to. They needed to be conservative and make provisions for their loans.”
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