Frenzy as thousands rush to reactivate blocked SIMs
There was chaos at various outlets across the country as thousands of Kenyans rushed to reactivate their deregistered sim cards.
The rush followed Sunday’s deactivation of an estimated 25 million SIM cards in line with the Communications Authority of Kenya (CA) October 15 deadline for mandatory SIM card re-registration in the quest to identify genuine line owners.
In Nakuru, there were long queues at Safaricom, Airtel and Telkom outlets as hundreds rushed to reactivate their deregistered SIM cards. Long queues were witnessed at the outlets as some residents protested the move by the CA to order the deregistering of their lines.
Samson Ojwang said he was surprised that despite having registered his Safaricom SIM card online, he was sent a message that his number had been suspended. Susan Njeri, another resident, said she had ignored the registration process, assuming that was a plot by the retired administration to steal votes during the August polls.
“I did not register and I was not in a hurry, I thought Uhuru’s government wanted to steal votes, though i see I was wrong,” she said.
A spot check at Airtel was similar as attendants had to take time to explain to agitated clients why their lines were blocked despite registering.
Long queues
Jane Wambui insisted that the government should extend the deadline to allow many Kenyans locked to register their lines.
“We have some elderly who are unaware that the deadline passed, some are complaining that their lines are not working we need these companies to visit villages,” said Wambui.
A spot check by People Daily at Safaricom shop in Kisumu established long queues as residents streamed in to either confirm the status of their SIM cards or have them activated.
Caleb Odongo, a resident, had MPesa services on his phone switched off on Sunday and therefore he could not carry out any mobile financial transition.
Odongo had visited the Safaricom shop in desperate efforts to have the services restored.
“I am happy the services have been restored on my phone. I could not do any transaction after it become inactive,” he said.
Stories by Roy Lumbe, Dennis Lumiti, Noven Owiti and Reuben Mwambingu