Safaricom PLC’s business model is pegged upon the total fleecing of consumers.
Exactly a year ago (28th Sept 2021), we exposed how the rogue Telco had colluded with corrupt Kenya Power and Lighting Company (KPLC) staff to rip off Wananchi in smart meter tender.
KPLC had awarded Safaricom a tender irregularly.
The Kenya govt has been toying with the idea of privatising water. Though it looks like a great thing. It isn’t
Privatizing water opens up the common man to a whole lot of problems.
Some of the problems include
- By privatizing water, government abdicates control over a vital public resource.
- The loss of control by govt means private operators can act the way they want. Private operators usually restrict public access to information. For example, Safaricom has repeatedly lied about 11.5 million customer data leaks even in court.
- The objectives of a profit-extracting water company can conflict with the public interest. This means that Safaricom and the water service providers will cherry-pick where to shut taps and when to open them. We’ve seen this behaviour in terms of road networks where private housing firms have captured govt agencies to control where good roads are constructed.
- In the end, it is the consumer that will suffer unnecessarily high water bills.
Safaricom in it
Safaricom is flourishing in the kadogo economy, billing Kenyans to death due to the failure of the Central govt.
The rogue Telco no doubt knows how to smell money and as such has grabbed the smart water meters issue with both hands.
The danger of having it take over our water meters, even if it is helping, is that Safaricom’s past in terms of being humane doesn’t paint a good picture.
This is the same company that believes that cooking gas should be paid like tokens.
It is the same company that has sabotaged any competition in data and call rates in the country to stay exorbitant. No wonder Kenya is ranked worst on the Internet worldwide.
Privatising a vital resource such as water is the death of a flourishing society.
Safaricom which has cut all corners to strangle people through debts is creating a culture like in the west where people take credit/loans to even buy innerwear.
It is a shame.
