Stop Safaricom's Unlawful Deactivation and Resale of Registered SIM Numbers

Kenyans who have lawfully registered and used a Safaricom line for years — for M-PESA, mobile banking, business, and everyday communication — are having their numbers silently deactivated, recycled, and reassigned to new subscribers without any warning.

In one documented case, a subscriber's number was deactivated after a period without top-up, then reassigned to a new customer without properly clearing the previous owner's linked accounts, contacts, or digital credentials — including M-PESA, M-Shwari, KCB M-PESA, WhatsApp, Facebook, and other services tied to that number. The affected subscriber only discovered the deactivation when someone else began receiving calls and messages meant for them. Funds remaining in M-PESA at the time of deactivation were withheld until a formal legal demand was made.

This is not an isolated incident. Given how long recycling practices like this have reportedly been in place, the financial impact — through unclaimed airtime, SMS bundles, data balances, M-PESA and M-Shwari savings, and Bonga Points across affected customers — is significant.

We are petitioning Safaricom's CEO to:

1. Immediately halt the practice of deactivating and reselling numbers without prior notice and a genuine opportunity to respond.

2. Establish a clear, well-publicized process for reclaiming a deactivated number and any linked balances.

3. Refund or restore financial balances (M-PESA, M-Shwari, KCB M-PESA, airtime, SMS, data, Bonga Points) that were held in an account at the time of deactivation.

4. Work with relevant regulators to put binding safeguards in place so this cannot continue unchecked.

If this has happened to you, please add your voice and share your experience through the questions below — your responses help demonstrate the true scale of this issue.