Service Disruption Continues to Plague Users

NAIROBI – Thousands of M-Shwari users across Kenya were still unable to access their savings and loan accounts on Friday evening, October 31, 2025, several hours after telecommunications giant Safaricom announced that the service had been fully restored. The prolonged outage, which began on Thursday evening, has sparked widespread frustration and criticism from customers who rely on the mobile banking platform for daily transactions, emergency funds, and business operations.

Safaricom's official customer care channels on social media were inundated with complaints from users reporting failed withdrawal and deposit attempts. Early on Friday, the company had acknowledged a "technical issue" and later in the day, issued a statement claiming the glitch had been resolved and that account reconciliation was underway. However, the reality on the ground for many customers painted a different picture, with many still receiving error messages late into the evening. In response to mounting complaints, Safaricom's support team later conceded that the issue was ongoing, stating, “We have noted the issue affecting the M-Shwari service. Please bear with us as we work to restore normalcy in the shortest time possible,” but could not provide a definite timeline for a complete resolution.

Economic Lifeline Severed

The M-Shwari platform, a partnership between Safaricom and NCBA Bank, is a critical component of Kenya's digital economy. It allows millions of M-Pesa users to save as little as KSh 1 and access micro-loans instantly on their mobile phones. For many individuals and small business owners, it functions as their primary bank account. The abrupt and extended lack of access has had significant real-world consequences. Social media posts detailed harrowing experiences, with users left stranded without funds for transport, food, and other essential needs. One user recounted being nearly beaten at an eatery due to a failed payment, highlighting the severe impact of the service interruption on daily life.

The lack of prior notification from Safaricom or NCBA Bank drew sharp criticism, as the outage caught users completely by surprise. This incident has rekindled concerns about the reliability of digital financial services and the potential vulnerability of the millions of Kenyans who have become heavily reliant on them. Analysts suggest that such outages underscore the need for more robust redundancy systems and stricter consumer protection mechanisms from regulators like the Central Bank of Kenya (CBK) to safeguard public funds and trust in the digital financial ecosystem.

A Pattern of Disruption?

This is not the first time the M-Shwari service has experienced significant downtime. Similar outages have occurred in previous years, including a notable disruption during a festive season which also left millions of users unable to access their funds for an extended period. These recurring technical failures raise critical questions about the underlying infrastructure supporting one of the most popular mobile banking products in Africa. M-Shwari is a cornerstone of financial inclusion in Kenya, and repeated service failures risk eroding the trust that has been built over the years since its launch.

Neither Safaricom nor its partner, NCBA Bank, had issued a detailed explanation for the cause of the technical glitch by the time of this report. While Safaricom's customer care team has been responding to individual complaints, a comprehensive statement addressing the root cause and measures being taken to prevent future occurrences was still pending. The incident serves as a stark reminder of the systemic importance of the M-Pesa ecosystem and its associated services, where a single technical failure can have cascading effects across the national economy, impacting everyone from urban entrepreneurs to rural households.

As of Saturday morning, November 1, 2025, some users reported that services were slowly becoming accessible, but many others continued to face challenges, indicating that full restoration and reconciliation of all affected accounts was still a work in progress. Further investigation into the regulatory oversight and technical resilience of such critical financial platforms is required.