Michael Mundia Kamau believes Safaricom is stealing from him. He claims that as long as they are stealing from him, then they must be also doing the same with all the other unsuspecting clients.

In desperation he has decided to forward all the communications he has had on the case, praying for intervention from the authorities in order for him to secure anything that has been wrongfully taken from him by Safaricom.

Read the correspondence and judge for yourself and if you are a Safaricom customer, it may be wise to check your Safaricom account at all times.

Here below is the correspondence he has in trying to solve the problem which he now says is being ignored by Safaricom-Kenya:

The correspondence:
Michael Mundia Kamau
P.O. Box 58972
00200 City Square, Nairobi
Kenya

Wednesday, 4th July 2012

Thank you very much indeed for your below e-mail of 21st May 2012 Mr. Ooro, and indeed for a separate letter from the Communications Commission of Kenya (CCK), dated 2nd May 2012 Ref. No. CCK/CA/00021/1/A/1015589, authored by your Ms. Patricia Muchiri, addressed to the managing Director, Safaricom, and copied to me.

Mr. Ooro, I however sadly regret that in addition to my below e-mail of 15th March 2012,  I am forced to further raise a multiplicity of serious complaints against Safaricom below, which are criminal and which are the corporate equivalent of street muggings:

1. About a month and a half ago on a Saturday morning, I received a spam text message from self-proclaimed & self anointed disciples of peace here in Kenya, talking about the need to observe peace in the period between now and the next general elections. In self-justification, the senders of the message suggested that peace came at a price, and that we should not take peace for granted. Indeed peace does come at a cost, because immediately after the message, I realised that KShs. 10 of my airtime had been deducted for a service I had not subscribed to. This is criminal, and like I say above, is no different from a street mugging. Unfortunately I deleted the said spam text, but I am sure the Communications of Kenya (CCK), has a way of verifying with what I state is true or false. Since that incident though, I am keen not to delete such nonsensical spam texts as you will note below.

2. On Thursday, 31st May 2012 Safaricom purportedly experienced technical hitches with its text message platform, and I also realised the hard way that technical hitches at Safaricom are just as expensive as “peace”, because in the evening of the said Thursday, 31st May 2012, I realised an inexplicable deduction of KShs. 10 from the balance of my airtime. Another financial mugging in broad daylight from supposedly the biggest and most reputable firm in East and Central Africa.

3. On Saturday, 9 th June 2012 at 10.52 p.m. in the evening, I received another message of “peace” from 3938 which read as follows verbatim:

    ” Peace is not something that u wish for. It is indeed something u do, something u make, and something u give await for the better good of others. Help 0715 562811″.

For this, a deduction of KShs. 5 was made from the balance of my airtime. There is no shortage whatsoever of Bibles or Qurans in East Africa, so I fail to see why Safaricom and its associates have taken it upon themselves to preach self-created gospels. I did not ask to receive these spam text messages from the Safaricom platform. Safaricom & its associates are not my god or creator and if I am seeking spiritual nourishment of a divine nature, then I will seek this spiritual nourishment from either the Holy Bible or the Quran as stated, not from the Safaricom platform. This plain and simple, is another financial mugging in the name of the “gospel”, which Safaricom cannot exonerate itself from.

4. On Tuesday, 12th June 2012 at 11.45 a.m. in the morning, I received another UNSOLICITED text message from “BRINGZACK” which read as follows:

    “Bring ZackHome. Dial *555# to donate 1/= daily for the construction of Kenya’s 1st spinal cord Rehab Centre or send MPESA paybill No. 522500, A/C Zack”

For the record Mr. Ooro, the only service I have ever subscribed to in the 8 years that I have held Safaricom telephone No. 0720 761349, is 411 for updates from the Nairobi Securities Exchange (then the Nairobi Stock Exchange), which I in any case unsubscribed from in August 2007, as I recall.

5. Related to No. 4 immediately above, I on Thursday, 21st June 2012 at 1.38 p.m. in the afternoon, received a message from Safaricom which read as follows:

    “Safricom supports BringZackHome. Donate 1/= daily off your airtime by dialling *555# & raise Sh 250 M to build a Rehab & Trauma Centre for spinal injury patients”.

6. On Saturday, 23rd June 2012, I sent nine multi-media messages from my cell phone to my e-mail address amboseli @ hotmail.com at the rate of KShs. 3.50 per multi-media message, meaning the total cost of sending all nine multi-media messages should have been KShs. 31.50. My airtime balance before sending all said nine multi-media messages was Kshs. 76.02, meaning that my airtime balance after sending all said nine multi-media messages should have been KShs. 44.52. However, my airtime after sending all nine multi-media messages was Shs. 44.51, meaning another financial mugging of me by Safaricom of KShs. 0.01.

7. On Monday, 25th June 2012, I sent four multi-media messages from my cell phone to my e-mail address amboseli @ hotmail.com at the rate of KShs. 3.50 per multi-media message, meaning the total cost of sending all four multi-media messages should have been KShs. 14. My airtime balance before sending all said four multi-media messages was Kshs. 41.51, meaning that my airtime balance after sending all said nine multi-media messages should have been KShs. 27.51. However, my airtime after sending all four multi-media messages was Shs. 27.49, meaning another financial mugging of me by Safaricom of KShs. 0.02.

8. On Friday, 29th June 2012, I sent eighteen multi-media messages from my cell phone to my e-mail address amboseli @ hotmail.com at the rate of KShs. 3.50 per multi-media message, meaning the total cost of sending all eighteen multi-media messages should have been KShs. 63. My airtime balance before sending all said eighteen multi-media messages was Kshs. 64.76, meaning that my airtime balance after sending all said nine multi-media messages should have been KShs. 1.76. However, my airtime after sending all eighteen multi-media messages was Shs. 1.75, meaning another financial mugging of me by Safaricom of KShs. 0.01.

9. On Monday, 2nd July 2012, I sent nine multi-media messages from my cell phone to my e-mail address amboseli @ hotmail.com at the rate of KShs. 3.50 per multi-media message, meaning the total cost of sending all nine multi-media messages should have been KShs. 31.50. My airtime balance before sending all said nine multi-media messages was Kshs. 41.75, meaning that my airtime balance after sending all said nine multi-media messages should have been KShs. 10.25. However, my airtime after sending all nine multi-media messages was Shs. 6.71, meaning another financial mugging of me by Safaricom of KShs. 3.54.

10. On Thursday, 28th June 2012, a sent a 561 character text message to Botswana which the delivery report of my cell phone indicated was not delivered. Safaricom nevertheless deducted KShs. 40 from the balance of my airtime for this. This is criminal and very unfortunate.

Mind you Mr. Ooro the issues I raise in my below e-mail of 15th March 2012 regarding undelivered multi-media messages remain unresolved, and I have neither received a refund nor an explanation from these criminals known as Safaricom.

I hardly make telephone calls, but I am certain that money has been stolen from me in similar fashion, and I am also certain that money is also being similarly stolen from all Safaricom subscribers who now number 20 million, as I am aware.

I have therefore in public interest, taken the liberty of copying this lengthy correspondence to the Ethics and Anti-Corruption Commission (EACC), here in Kenya, The Banking Fraud and Investigation Department of the Central Bank of Kenya, The Finance, Planning and Trade Departmental Committee of the Kenya Parliament, Kenyan blogs, Kenyan digital discussion boards, Kenyan digital villages, Kenyan digital tabloids, local Kenyan media and overseas media.

I remain, Sir
Yours sincerely,

Michael Mundia Kamau,
Cell phone number 0720 761349
 
Encl.

————————————————————–

Subject: Re: [Ticket#1015589] Complaints regarding Safaricom
Date: Mon, 21 May 2012 09:10:03 +0300
To: amboseli @ hotmail.com
From: chukuahatua @ cck.go.ke

Dear Michael,

This is to inform you that the Commission has communicated to your service provider, Safaricom Ltd regarding your complaint. Consequently, Safaricom has promised to promptly investigate the matter and revert to us. We shall advise you appropriately. Thank you for your patience.

Thank you for your request.

CCK Consumer Affairs Team

Juma Ooro

Communications Commission of Kenya (CCK)

Waiyaki Way

P.O. Box 14448, 008, 0

Westlands, NAIROBI, Kenya

Tel 254-20-4242000 / 254- 20-4349111,

Fax 254-20-4451866/43482046

——————————————————————————————-

03/15/2012 16:40 – Wambua Christopher wrote:
 
  Please deal

    
From: Mundia Kamau [mailto:amboseli@hotmail.com]

Sent: Thursday, March 15, 2012 4:36 PM

To: info

Cc: Ochola, Atieno; Kemei, Christopher; chukuahatua

Subject: Complaints regarding Safaricom

  
Good evening Ladies and Gentlemen.

I will be very grateful if you addressed the two matters below on my behalf. They relate to grossly unsatisfactory and wanting services rendered by and at Safaricom

Best Regards,

Michael Mundia Kamau, P.O. Box 58972, 00200 City Square,    Nairobi

——————————————————————-

From: amboseli @ hotmail.com

To: customercare @ safaricom.co.ke

CC: bcollymore @ safaricom.co.ke

Subject: FW: Technical difficulties using Safaricom Multimedia

Date: Thu, 15 Mar 2012 16:02:01 +0300

Michael Mundia Kamau

P.O. Box 58972, 00200 City Square, Nairobi 

Thursday, 15th March 2012

I refer to my below e-mail of 7th March 2012, and regret that the matter remain unresolved after 8 days, with no effort whatsoever made to update me. This is a reflection of sheer incompetence, ineptitude and negligence.   

On the evening I sent my below said e-mail of 7th March 2012, a lady called me on my cell phone at 7.42 p.m. from the number 0722 000000 telling me that she was not aware of any problem with Multimedia Services at Safaricom, but that my below e-mail would nevertheless be forwarded to the relevant department. I am yet to get a response after eight days. Pathetic…  

Please do not make another nonsensical, hollow, valueless, pathetic and placatory telephone call to me, please instead confirm to me in writing that you have contemptuously dismissed my below e-mail on the grounds that it bears no substance at all, to enable me now take up the matter with local media, overseas media, social media, and the Vodafone Corporation in the United Kingdom. I am afraid that I do not have time for the empty, hollow and valueless grandstanding associated with Safaricom. If I do get a telephone call from anyone at all at Safaricom concerning this matter and another pathetic one I raise below, I will regard it as provocation. Safaricom is clearly a corporation in serious trouble, a corporation that is fascinatingly incompetent, a corporation whose brand (whatever’s left of it anyway), is on “life support machines”, and I have little doubt in my mind that it is just a matter of time before Safaricom collapses and comes tumbling down like a ton of bricks, just like the Kenya Planters Co-Operative Union (KPCU), Pan Africa Paper Mills, Webuye, and Lehaman’s Brothers in the United States in 2008.

The second said matter regards Safaricom M-Pesa, which I have never registered for because I have no confidence in Safaricom, it’s staff, its former CEO and its current CEO.

In November 2011, I was sent 1,000/= via M-Pesa. I went to cash it at the Safaricom ”Customer Care” Centre on Moi Avenue, Nairobi, and was shocked to learn that my Safaricom line had been registered in the name of one Joseph Dzombo. How and when this happened, I do not know. Like I say, I have no confidence in Safaricom, it’s staff, it’s former CEO and its current CEO. I was very disappointed and asked that the registration of my Safaricom line in the name of one Joseph Dzombo, be immediately cancelled. I do not even know what else regarding my safaricom line has been going on behind my back.

This morning Thursday, 15th March 2012, I was sent 3,000/= via M-Pesa and went to cash it at the same Safaricom ”Customer Care” Centre on Moi Avenue here in Nairobi. To my dismay I was registered against my will on Safaricom M-Pesa and received the following really annoying, frustrating and irritating message:

“Your M-PESA account is now active. New M-PESA balance is Ksh 3,045.00. Your secret word is “Sagana” you will need this to identify yourself to customer service. For more information call or SMS customer services on 234″.

Please immediately cancel this purported registration of mine on Safaricom, and please confirm to me in writing that you have done so.

Safaricom is truly desperate and like I state above, it is indeed just a matter of time before Safaricom collapses and comes tumbling down like a ton of bricks, just like the Kenya Planters Co-Operative Union (KPCU), Pan Africa Paper Mills, Webuye, and Lehaman’s Brothers in the United States in 2008.

Please confirm to me in writing that you have cancelled my purported registration on M-Pesa of 15th March 2012 and please also confirm to me in writing that you have contemptuously dismissed my below e-mail of 7th March 2012.

If it is against policy at Safaricom to reply via e-mail, then please send me written responses to P.O. Box 58972, 00200 City Square, Nairobi, Kenya. I do not wish to receive any telephone call whatsoever from anyone at Safaricom whosoever regarding both these matters, and will consider this as provocation if I do.

Yours sincerely,

Michael Mundia Kamau, Cell phone number 0720 761349    

Encl.

———————————————————

From: amboseli @ hotmail.com

To: customercare @ safaricom.co.ke

 CC: bcollymore @ safaricom.co.ke,  rcollymore @ safaricom.co.ke

Subject: Technical difficulties using Safaricom Multimedia

Date: Wed, 7 Mar 2012 17:20:44 +0300

      
Michael Mundia Kamau

P.O. Box 58972, 00200 City Square, Nairobi

Wednesday, 7th March 2012

How’s it going, guys…?

I am a Safaricom subscriber and my cell phone number is 0720 761349

I have for two years been using Safaricom multimedia services without difficulty. However since Tuesday, 28th February 2012, I have experienced difficulty and numerous unsuccessful attempts using the said Safaricom multimedia services.

Finally late at night on Tuesday, 6th March 2012, I got through three multimedia messages to the e-mail address amboseli @ hotmail.com i.e. this e-mail address

I logged into this e-mail address this afternoon, Wednesday, 7th March 2012, confident that I would find all three multimedia messages, but was disappointed not to. I incurred an extra expense and extra trouble resenting the three said multimedia messages this afternoon, to no avail. That’s apparently six unsuccessful messages sent over a period of about 12 hours, at a cost & possible loss of 21/=

I resent this and hope that I will not incur a fruitless expense and fruitless non-delivery. Are your systems experiencing technical difficulties…?

Please sort out this matter on my behalf guys, and please see to it that I do not lose out on both ends.

Yours sincerely,

Michael M. Kamau, Cell phone number 0720 761349 
     
    
End

——————————————-

UK: Margaret Thatcher former prime minister reported unwell.

CUBA: Fidel Castro former president reported unwell.

EGYPT: Hosni Mubarak former president reported unwell.

ISRAEL: Ariel Sharon former prime minister reported still in deep coma now 7 years down the line.

ZIMBABWE: Robert Mugabe president reported ill – health deteroriating..

VENEZUELA: Hugo Chavez president reported unwell.

End

In a ceremony held in Monte Carlo on June 9, CEO and Managing Director of Kenya’s Equity Bank, Dr. James Mwangi, was named the Ernst & Young World Entrepreneur of the Year 2012. He was picked from among 59 finalists from 51 countries vying for the world’s  most prestigious business award for entrepreneurs.

Dr. Mwangi joined Equity Bank as finance director in 1994 when only 4 percent of the population had bank accounts. Now, 26 percent of Kenyans have one, and the bank manages more than 7 million bank accounts – over half of all bank accounts in Kenya.
He became the bank’s chief executive in 2004 and he listed the bank on the Nairobi Stock Exchange in 2006.
 
Dr. Mwangi’s sees Equity Bank as transforming the economy of  the East African region with its focus on providing services to the “unbanked” poor. Meanwhile, through the bank’s foundation, it now funds several philanthropic initiatives including providing healthcare to 1.8 million Kenyans, 10,000 scholarships to educate orphaned and children in need, and 1,300 university scholarships.

Filed by Cristina Rue

 
Source: Financial Times
Source: Ernst & Young

———-

“I am pleased and relieved that the four aid workers from the Norwegian Refugee Council have now been brought to safety,” said Foreign Minister Jonas Gahr Støre.

The four aid workers are on their way back to Nairobi.

“I share the joy and relief of the Refugee Council and all its employees that this situation has now been resolved,” said Mr Støre.

“A big thank you to the Kenyan authorities, who have helped to resolve the situation. I was in contact with the Kenyan Foreign Minister yesterday while the investigation was still going on, and expressed my appreciation for the efforts being made by the Kenyan authorities. Today I will thank the Kenyans for their assistance,” said Mr Støre.

“The work being done in poor countries by aid organisations like the Norwegian Refugee Council is essential. They help people where they are and are doing an invaluable job. It is important to ensure that they can continue this work safely,” said Minister of International Development Heikki Holmås, who is taking part in a summit on Somalia in Rome today.

“Aid workers in the Horn of Africa are at risk, and there are many examples of threats and violence against people who are trying to help others. Our thoughts go to the family of the Kenyan driver who was killed when the aid workers were abducted,” said Mr Støre.

The four international aid workers from the Norwegian Refugee Council were abducted in the Dadaab refugee complex in Kenya on Friday 29 June.

 end

source www.irinnews.org

BUSHENYI/HOIMA,  – At least 2,500 farmers in the western districts of Uganda are earning extra cash to boost their livelihoods by planting trees alongside their crops in a scheme that is helping to sequester carbon dioxide.
 
Trees process huge amounts of carbon dioxide because of their size and extensive root systems making them efficient carbon sinks. 
 
Under the Payment for Ecosystem Scheme, a farmer who plants one hectare of mahogany, prunas africana or maesopsis local tree species will on average earn US$700 a year, said Annet Ssempala, a programme officer with the Environmental Conservation Trust (Ecotrust). Ecotrust’s donors include the US Agency for International Development and the World Wildlife Foundation.
 
“That’s on average per hectare but other farmers are earning more than that,” said Ssempala.
 
An assessment of the size of land a farmer has under trees, the type/species of trees planted, the vegetation cover of the trees and the maturity period, helps to determine the amount of money each farmer will earn.
 
The farmers are paid in five instalments over a 10-year period receiving 30 percent of the payment in the first pay-out and 20 percent in the second, third and fifth pay-outs, respectively. A 10 percent payment is made at the fourth pay-out.
 
Through this carbon credit fund, annually the farmers are collectively earning about $500,000 and obtaining certificates of engagement that are enabling them to access credit, according to Ecotrust.
 
Benon Bushoborozi of the Kiyanga tree planting group told IRIN he has been able to obtain a 500,000 Ugandan shillings ($200) loan to finance his farming activities.
 
“The money helped me start my vegetable project last year and I was able to pay back the money after selling my vegetables,” he said.
 
Deforestation
 
“Unscrupulous loggers are cutting down forests indiscriminately for timber or fuel with impunity. We are planting trees to conserve the environment,” said Beatrice Ahimbisibwe, a member of the Bitereko women’s group in Bushenyi District.
 
Ahimbisibwe told IRIN she has planted three hectares of exotic pine and indigenous tree species on her land. “They [the local and central] governments aren’t doing enough to preserve forests and [the] surrounding environment,” she said.
 
Working alongside Ecotrust is the Trees For Global Benefit project (TFGB) through which farming groups are not only benefiting from trade in carbon credit but also helping to restore the depleted forest cover.
 
According to Tom Rukundo, an environmental impact assessment and research specialist at Uganda’s National Forest Authority, the lack of incentives to preserve forests has been largely responsible for deforestation.
 
“The situation has been made worse by the growing fuel demand and an incapable forestry institution struggling with limited resources,” he added.
 
Rukundo said there is a need for forests outside protected areas to have incentive schemes such as the Reduction in Emissions from Deforestation and Forest Degradation, which pay people to preserve their forests to mitigate the effects of climate change.
 
“Wildlife like chimps [chimpanzees], buffaloes and birds, that previously had plenty of room to roam, now pillage crops and compete with humans for territory,” said Yolamu Nsamba, a former secretary to the King of the Bunyoro Kitara Kingdom in Hoima, commenting on the degradation of the Budongo and Bugoma forest reserves in Hoima District. Forests there were in the past conserved by traditional authorities.
 
ca/aw/cb  source www.irinnews.org