Safaricom—Kenyan Parliament opened probe into M-Pesa funds trapped when Safaricom deactivates and reassigns phone numbers, including deceased customers' estates

Kenya's National Assembly Public Petitions Committee formally received, on October 3, 2026, a petition challenging Safaricom's practice of deactivating SIM cards after roughly six months of inactivity and later reassigning the numbers, which leaves M-Pesa mobile-money balances difficult or impossible for customers and - in several cited cases - deceased subscribers' estates to recover. The petition questions whether the practice complies with Kenya's Law of Succession Act (which bars unauthorized intermeddling with a deceased person's property) and the Unclaimed Financial Assets Act, and whether unrecovered balances are properly remitted to the Unclaimed Financial Assets Authority (UFAA). On October 6, 2026, Communications Authority of Kenya Director-General David Mugonyi appeared before the committee; as of the most recent hearing no new recovery mechanism had been established. The committee's inquiry is expected to also hear from Safaricom, the Central Bank of Kenya, UFAA, and consumer representatives.