Safaricom Marks 24th Anniversary Amid Concerns of Collusion with Police in Arrests
Key takeaways
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- Safaricom PLC celebrated its 24th birthday on October 23rd at a glamorous event led by Safaricom CEO Peter Ndegwa.
- Mr. Ndegwa interacted with Safaricom staff and customers in a cake-cutting ceremony and warm gifting session.
- The leading telecommunications company has achieved significant growth and success since its founding on October 23, 2000.
- Despite contributing over 700 billion shillings to the Kenyan economy in 2023, the accomplished telco is currently in the spotlight for data privacy concerns.
- A section of Kenyan social media users have criticized Safaricom for assisting police in locating people and making arrests.
- The concerns also caught the attention of mainstream media, with the Daily Nation, a well-known local newspaper, publishing an investigative report on the matter.
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Safaricom’s decades of success
Safaricom has been a long-standing business success story in Kenya, boasting an unmatched innovation and enterprising spirit.
Safaricom is best known for its innovative financial solutions including the M-PESA mobile money transfer and M-Shwari soft loan service that have transformed the lives of ordinary Kenyans.
The company has significantly enhanced communication by systematically expanding its network coverage in Kenya over the past 20 years.
By the end of the last financial year, Safaricom was supporting 1,283,329 jobs along with a 722 billion contribution to the Kenyan economy, as detailed in its 13th Sustainable Business Report.
Safaricom’s influence has reached beyond Kenya, as the company has established a presence in several other African countries, including Ethiopia, where it received approval to operate in 2021.
Safaricom receives criticism for irregularly assisting police
Safaricom’s high reputation is under threat following growing concerns about its data handling practices.
The Kenyan social media space is awash with complaints of Safaricom assisting police in a worrying trend of arrests witnessed in the country.
Influential people including bloggers and activists have been on the receiving end of arbitrary arrests by police in what is believed to be intimidating tactics by authorities.
Bloggers Francis Gaitho and Maverick Aoko, as well as activists Boniface Mwangi and Morara Kebaso, are among the influential Kenyans arrested following the recent Gen Z-led protests in Kenya.
Francis Gaitho is one of the leading voices criticizing Safaricom, which he accuses of giving away his location to police who later arrested him in the upmarket Westlands area of Nairobi.
Mr. Gaitho’s family reported that he was arrested shortly after he switched on his Safaricom SIM card to process a payment on Safaricom’s M-PESA service.
“But on that material day, he needed to make a payment to a vendor which only prompts Safaricom MPesa numbers. He quickly inserted his Safaricom SIM card for two minutes to effect the transaction and removed it,” says the family statement.
Also read: Shocking Details About Francis Gaitho’s Arrest Emerge
The sleek moves by police in Gaitho’s arrests sparked widespread concerns about how they access communication records to locate persons of interest.
Kenyan laws allow data access by police officers in instances where there are court orders or legal warranties.
A latest investigative report by the Daily Nation reveals that police enjoy unfettered access to communication records using a specially built system within Safaricom.
Safaricom has categorically denied the allegations with its spokesperson stating that “Safaricom has always taken responsibility to protect customer data very seriously.”
This has elicited strong reactions online with a section of social media users vowing to dispose of Safaricom equipment for fear of being surveilled. Others are calling for a total boycott of the telecommunications company.
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