The Safaricom data leak settlement collapsed in a dramatic courtroom U-turn that’s left millions of subscribers fuming and privacy watchdogs sharpening their claws, as the telecom behemoth’s last-ditch bid to hush up the scandal fizzled out yesterday.
The High Court in Nairobi confirmed the talks hit a brick wall, paving the way for a full-blown hearing on the alleged pilfering and peddling of sensitive info from 11.5 million customers – a breach that’s haunted the firm since 2019 but refuses to fade into the digital ether.
“Justice delayed is justice denied, but this? It’s justice demanded,” quipped Consumer Federation of Kenya’s exec director Stephen Mutoro outside the Milimani courts, where a gaggle of lawyers and irate litigants spilt onto the pavement like overflow from a matatu rush hour.
The saga traces back to mid-2019, when hackers – or insiders, depending on whom you ask – syphoned a treasure trove of personal details: full names, national IDs, phone numbers, and even betting histories tied to M-Pesa wallets and airtime top-ups. Prosecutors allege Safaricom unwittingly (or wittingly?) funnelled this goldmine to a shadowy sports betting outfit, Betika, under the radar of data protection laws that were still wet behind the ears back then.
The Office of the Data Protection Commissioner slapped the company with an Sh115 billion fine in 2022 – later slashed to a “mere” Sh3 billion – but the civil suit, filed by a coalition of affected users and NGOs, sought an injunction to torch any black-market dealings and cough up compensation.
Safaricom’s olive branch? A proposed out-of-court deal dangling enhanced cybersecurity pledges and a confidentiality clause thicker than Nairobi fog. But the plaintiffs baulked, calling it a “slap on the wrist for a corporate slap in the face.”
Judge Aburili Korir, presiding over the miscellany, wasted no time: “Mediation’s noble, but not when trust’s in tatters.” The ruling, handed down in a packed session, sets a December trial date, giving Safaricom’s suits time to regroup while the blogosphere boils.
“This isn’t just a leak; it’s a floodgate for identity theft,” warned tech ethicist Dr Njeri Wangari in a viral thread, linking it to rising SIM swap scams that’ve cost Kenyans Sh2 billion yearly.
Safaricom, mum on specifics, issued a boilerplate statement vowing “utmost commitment to user security,” but insiders whisper boardroom panic: the stock dipped 1.2% at the NSE open, wiping Sh5 billion off market cap.
For the 11.5 million hit customers – that’s nearly a quarter of Kenya’s mobile masses – the fallout’s personal.
Take Jane Muthoni, a Nakuru teacher whose ID popped up in dark web dumps: “I froze my accounts and changed locks – all because Big Telco couldn’t zip its lips.”
Will the bench deliver a reckoning or another rubber-stamp fine? With Ruto’s digital economy push dangling carrots for fintech, this could crimp Safaricom’s swagger – or spark a privacy renaissance.
In the end, yesterday’s collapse isn’t closure; it’s combustion. As Nairobi’s evening jams snarl under sodium lamps, one thing’s clear: when your data’s the commodity, settling out of sight won’t cut it anymore. Eyes on the High Court – the real show’s just revving up.