Safaricom PLC has confirmed the outage of the mobile savings and micro-loan service M-Shwari.

Jointly operated by Safaricom PLC and NCBA Bank Kenya, the M-Shwari product has been hit by a system outage, leaving thousands of users locked out of their accounts.

The disruption, which began on the evening of Thursday, October 30, 2025, has continued until recently.

The company has, however, promised to resolve the matter with its partner, NCBA Bank.

”Hello. M-Shwari services are currently unavailable due to an outage. Our partner NCBA is working closely with us to resolve the issue and restore services as soon as possible. We sincerely apologise for any inconveniences caused and appreciate your patience.” Safaricom communicated via X on Wednesday, November 19, 2025, replying to an affected customer.

Why the outage matters

M-Shwari has become a lifeline for millions of Kenyans who depend on it for everyday financial needs such as savings, emergency loans, transport costs, business float, school fees, and more. The outage, therefore, had immediate real-world consequences.

Meanwhile, the M-Shwari lapses come shortly after Safaricom also issued a notice to its customers regarding a planned system upgrade on the M-Pesa Fuliza platform, aimed at improving service reliability and enhancing user experience.

The scheduled system maintenance took place on Monday, November 17, 2025, running between 1:00 am and 2:00 am. In its explanation, Safaricom noted that the enhancements are designed to ensure Fuliza remains secure, dependable, and aligned with its commitment to offering seamless and worry-free financial solutions to millions of users across the country.

M-Pesa Fuliza outage

”We are continually improving our platform to enhance our services, connecting you, our customers, with more innovations and an even better experience.”

“To support this and meet our promise to offer always-on, safe, secure, and worry-free financial products and services, we will be conducting a scheduled system upgrade on the Fuliza Platform on Monday, 17th November 2025, from 0100 hrs to 0200 hrs,” the notice said in part.

During the one-hour maintenance window, customers experienced intermittent access to Fuliza services. However, Safaricom assured users that all other M-PESA services would remain fully operational, minimising disruptions to everyday transactions.

The timing of the upgrade was carefully selected to limit inconvenience, taking place during off-peak hours when the majority of users were less likely to be affected.

Safaricom reiterated its dedication to improving the quality, safety, and efficiency of its products through continuous system enhancements.