"Safaricom sued over M-Pesa safety after expose"

A man has moved to court seeking clarification from Safaricom on the safety of money deposited in M-Pesa accounts. This follows an expose on those suspected to be behind a spate of killings of hawkers in the city. Joseph Gitonga Kihanya and Uzalendo, a lobby group, want it established whether PIN numbers for people with M-Pesa accounts can be accessed by Safaricom staff and if money deposited by Kenyans in those accounts is safe.The lawsuit comes after the publication of a story in which the M-Pesa details of the individuals named in the expose — Benson Akasi, alias Tall Brown, and Alfred Marenya, alias Wasiwasi — were accessed and publicly revealed.

According to Mr Kihanya, Safaricom customers are exposed to untold risks due to information leaked by its employees and hence the need for the matter to be urgently addressed to prevent loss of money.They also alleged that the two risk getting mugged by persons who believe that they are in possession of large amounts of money...The firm, through its law enforcement manager Weldon Singok, asked the court to dismiss the matter, saying that its M-Pesa customers' terms as well as conditions are clear that balances and PINs are matters of extreme privacy.