Nairobi, Kenya. On May 26, 2026, Al Jazeera’s The Listening Post released a documentary that has ignited widespread outrage across Kenya. It reveals how Safaricom, the country’s dominant telecommunications company controlling nearly the entire mobile market and the M-Pesa mobile money system, has functioned as the Ruto government’s primary partner in illegal mass surveillance. The company stands accused of routinely supplying sensitive user data including precise location tracking, call records, text messages, and social connections without any court orders or legal warrants. Ordinary citizens’ phones have been transformed into constant informants feeding directly into state security operations.
This is not a case of occasional errors or isolated incidents. Courtroom evidence, investigative reports, and consistent patterns of abuse demonstrate a systematic betrayal of customer trust. The most glaring proof emerged in the high-profile trial of university student David Ooga Mokaya. He was arrested after sharing an AI-generated image depicting President William Ruto in a coffin. During the court proceedings a Safaricom police liaison officer testified under oath that the company had handed over triangulation data pinpointing Mokaya’s location, his personal identity details, and a full list of everyone he had contacted during a specific period. All of this was provided based only on a simple letter from the Directorate of Criminal Investigations dated November 14, 2024. No judicial warrant existed. When pressed on cross-examination about the missing authorization the officer admitted it simply was not there.
Investigative journalist Thomas Mukhwana captured the outrage perfectly. He stated that Safaricom and law enforcement had broken the law to secure the arrest. Mokaya was eventually acquitted yet the damage was done. He has now filed a constitutional petition demanding up to 200 million shillings in damages from Safaricom for gross violations of his privacy and dignity. The High Court issued conservatory orders to halt further unauthorized sharing of his data but the case continues to expose how deeply the rot has spread.
The 2024 youth-led anti-government protests served as the decisive turning point. These demonstrations were decentralized, digital-native, and free from traditional political or ethnic structures. Security agencies, unprepared for the speed and scale of mobilization, turned to blanket digital surveillance. They used geolocation pings to track activists in real time, monitored social media activity, and unmasked IP addresses to identify organizers. Experts link this surveillance directly to a surge in abductions. Records show around 82 abductions in the three months leading up to December 2024 with 29 individuals still missing. Many victims were located through phone data pulled straight from telecom providers. Abductions occurred both at night and in broad daylight after movements and contacts had been mapped.
Victor Ndede, a lawyer and privacy expert at Amnesty International, described the shift clearly. Kenya has moved rapidly from targeted surveillance to indiscriminate mass surveillance. The 2024 protests marked the first truly youth-driven and decentralized uprising in the country’s history. Nanjala Nyabola, author on digital democracy, added that authorities panicked at the unexpected speed and organization of the protests. Their only effective response was to deploy the surveillance tools already at their disposal to control, police, and intimidate citizens. Ndede warned that privacy forms the bedrock of any democracy. Once self-censorship sets in free expression collapses and democracy itself follows.
Safaricom’s role goes far beyond passive cooperation. Multiple investigations including reports from Privacy International and recent petitions by the Law Society of Kenya accuse the company of embedding Directorate of Criminal Investigations officers directly within its offices. These liaison personnel have enjoyed virtually unfettered access to call data records, SIM registration information, real-time location data, and even mobile money transaction details. Data requests are often processed on the basis of vague internal letters citing broad categories of crime rather than specific court orders. Safaricom has repeatedly denied wrongdoing and claimed it releases information only upon explicit judicial authorization. Yet courtroom testimony and the absence of any meaningful rebuttal to Al Jazeera’s findings tell a different story. The company’s aggressive legal threats against journalists who highlight these practices only deepen public distrust.
The Kenyan government maintains a substantial ownership stake in Safaricom. This makes the telecom provider not merely a private business but a strategic extension of the state security apparatus. It profits enormously from its near-monopoly while actively undermining constitutional protections. The integration of M-Pesa adds another dangerous dimension because financial behavior can now be monitored alongside communications creating a complete digital profile of every user.
Kenyans have every right to feel betrayed. Growing calls for mass SIM swaps and boycotts reflect deep anger. Privacy is not optional. It underpins free speech, peaceful assembly, and genuine democratic participation. When phones become tools of the state self-censorship replaces open debate and fear replaces civic engagement. Safaricom built its empire on the data and loyalty of Kenyan citizens. It has now weaponized that data in service of political control.
The company must face full accountability. This includes an independent audit of all data access logs, an immediate end to warrantless sharing, and substantial compensation for victims of these violations. The Data Protection Act cannot remain a toothless document. Enforcement must be swift and uncompromising. Until concrete reforms occur every Safaricom subscriber remains vulnerable. A single informal request from security agencies could expose their entire digital life.
This scandal reaches beyond one corporation. It raises fundamental questions about Kenya’s democratic future. Will the country preserve the fragile space for dissent and privacy or descend further into a full surveillance state where every call, movement, and message is tracked? Kenyans deserve far better than a telecom giant that prioritizes regime loyalty over customer rights. Their phones and their freedoms must never again serve as instruments of state control.
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