The High Court Judge Mugure Thande has issued an interim order to Safaricom and the Central Bank of Kenya to suspend the reintroduction of bank-to-MPesa charges pending the determination of a suit involving financial consumer rights.
In a petition filed by Moses Wafula a Nairobi resident claims that the charges should not be passed to consumers.
Mr Wafula said should the court find that the Mpesa Paybill charges are illegal more funds from the members of the public will have been lost and it may be difficult to ask the banks to refund the same.
The order stops the reintroduction of charges between mobile money wallets and bank transactions as advanced by the CBK through a press release issued on December 6, 2022.
Wafula claims that his rights and those of other members of the public have been violated infringed and continue to be threatened by the giant telecommunication firm and the Government of Kenya in view of the directive issued by CBK.
The Banks being one of the Safaricom’s Mpesa Paybill primary clients also elect to pass the Safaricom Mpesa Paybill charges to the members of the public (the Safaricom clients’ customers),” he argues.
The petition relates to financial consumer rights with a focus on the area of payment services provided by Safaricom Limited in the form of Lipa na M-Pesa Pay Bill Service.
The case will be mentioned on January 23, 2023.