Banks and telecommunication giant, Safaricom clients have a temporary sigh of relief after the High Court yesterday ordered Safaricom PLC and the Central Bank of Kenya (CBK) to halt re-introduction of charges on transactions made between mobile money wallets and lenders pending the determination of a suit involving financial consumer rights.
High Court judge Mugure Thande issued the interim order in a petition filed by a Nairobi resident Moses Wafula who claims that the charges should not be passed to consumers.
Effectively, the order stops the reintroduction of charges between mobile money wallets and bank transactions as advanced by the CBK through a press release issued on December 6, 2022.
While asking the court to put brakes on the charges, Wafula said should the court find that the Mpesa Paybill charges are illegal, more funds from the members of the public will have been lost and it may be difficult to ask the banks to refund the same.
He contends that his rights and those of other members of the public have been violated, infringed and continue to be threatened by the giant telecommunication firm and the government of Kenya in view of the directive issued by CBK.
The case will be mentioned on January 23, 2023.
The new charges were to take effect on January 1 this year.
CBK had in December last year announced the reinstatement of the charges in a move that would have offered relief for commercial banks that have decried the regulator’s reluctance to reinstate the fees.
However, the regulator said the new charges will be lower than the previous charges that were applied before the waiver. CBK said maximum charges for transfers from bank accounts to mobile money wallets will be reduced by up to 61 per cent and mobile money wallet to bank account by up to 47 per cent.
The charges were waived on March 16, 2020, as part of the emergency measures to facilitate the use of mobile money at the height of the Covid-19 pandemic.