How safe is your money and personal information when the people trusted to protect it are accused of abusing that very access? Safaricom is facing renewed scrutiny over internal accountability after dismissing 118 employees over fraud-related misconduct, including theft, falsification of company records and unauthorised access to customer information.
The telecommunications giant disclosed the dismissals in its 2026 Sustainable Business Report. The number increased from 113 employees dismissed in the previous financial year, highlighting the company’s continued battle against internal fraud.
According to the report, other grounds for dismissal included security and compliance breaches, as well as criminal offences. The company also issued three disciplinary warnings and referred 14 cases to law enforcement agencies, double the seven cases reported in the previous financial year.
Beyond the dismissals, Safaricom recovered KSh953 million linked to inflated M-PESA agent commissions through internal monitoring and data analytics. However, the amount was lower than the KSh1.7 billion recovered in the previous financial year.
The report further revealed that fraud remained the most frequently reported concern through the company’s ethics hotline, raising questions about the effectiveness of internal controls within one of Kenya’s most relied-upon telecommunications companies.
Despite the crackdown, Safaricom reported an 82 per cent reduction in fraud incidents, falling short of its 90 per cent target. It also recovered 46 per cent of reported fraud losses during the financial year.
The revelations come as millions of Kenyans increasingly depend on M-PESA for daily financial transactions, making the protection of customer information and the security of mobile money services a major concern.
