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Article

7 Jan 2025

Author:
Martin K.N Siele, Semafor - New York

Kenya's Safaricom faces abductions backlash

Kenya’s largest telecoms operator Safaricom is facing widespread public backlash over its alleged involvement in the unexplained abductions of government critics. Kenya National Commission on Human Rights (KNCHR) said there have been more than 80 cases of abductions and forced disappearances since youth-led anti-government protests that rocked major cities between June and August last year. Activists have accused Safaricom of sharing customer call records and location data with alleged state agents, allowing them to track and capture targets. Some government critics have shared publicly that they dumped their Safaricom lines to avoid government surveillance and arrest, encouraging other Kenyans to do the same.

Safaricom “needs to be held to account,” Willie Oeba, a spoken word artist and one of the protest movement’s leading figures, told Semafor Africa, saying it needed to follow the country’s data protection laws. “People including family members of abductees have told me that they are considering leaving Safaricom altogether but are unsure of alternatives.”

... In October, Safaricom denied sharing customer data with the state without court orders after Kenyan newspaper the Nation reported that it had given authorities “virtually unfettered access” to customer data through its internal data management system. Power utility Kenya Power has also been criticized for allegedly allowing state agents access to location data for its customers’ power meters, installed in homes and businesses. The company did not immediately respond to questions from Semafor Africa over the allegations. The government of Kenya owns a 35% stake in Safaricom... It controls 65% of the telecommunications market in Kenya, with a subscriber base of 47 million…

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