Safaricom’s popular M-Pesa mobile money transfer and financing service experienced major technical issues on Tuesday (January 9th, 2024), causing outages and disruptions for millions of users in Kenya.
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“M-PESA is undergoing scheduled maintenance,” Safaricom announced in a message to users, indicating a wider issue with the platform. The problems have impacted core functions like sending and receiving money, bank linkages, and various payment services relying on M-Pesa.
Our sincere apologies Diana, we are currently having challenges with Mpesa services and resolution is underway. Please bear with us . ^PN
— Safaricom PLC (@SafaricomPLC) January 9, 2024
Banks offering services connected to M-Pesa also confirmed the outages, stating that all linked offerings using the mobile payments system were currently non-operational.
This widespread disruption spans beyond just the traditional SIM card capabilities, also extending to the M-Pesa mobile app.
Thousands of Kenyans depending on M-Pesa for daily digital transactions have faced significant interruptions. Customers attempting to make payments or money transfers faced various error messages. Safaricom advised trying transactions again after 10 minutes, pointing to a potential intermittent fault.
In response to a customer query on X (formally Twitter), Safaricom acknowledged the issues, promising it was the “utmost priority” for resolution. “We are currently having challenges with M-Pesa services and resolution is underway,” stated the social media response.
This M-Pesa outage highlights the deep penetration and importance of digital platforms for payments and transactions in Kenya’s economy. With so many citizens and businesses reliant on services like M-Pesa for everyday livelihoods, even short disruptions can profoundly impact at both an individual and national level.
Safaricom is working urgently to diagnose and resolve the root causes of this M-Pesa outage. No timeline has been provided on when functionality may return to normal.
[Update – 3:13 PM]
M-Pesa services appear to be restored after the hours-long nationwide outage. Safaricom has also released an official statement acknowledging the disruption that prevented millions of customers from accessing vital mobile money services.
However, while confirming services are back up and running, the statement does not provide any details on the specific root cause behind the M-Pesa platform failure.
This leaves questions unanswered on what exactly triggered the issues and if sufficient measures are in place to prevent a recurrence of such an impactful incident that halted digital transactions and impacted livelihoods across Kenya.
More transparency from the telecom giant would be welcomed as customers depend on the reliability of services like M-Pesa in their daily lives.
