KRA: Claims M-Pesa was down to integrate with KRA is fake news

The Kenya Revenue Authority (KRA) has refuted claims circulating on X (formerly Twitter) that M-Pesa services were down yesterday because it was being integrated with KRA.

The claims, which KRA has termed as ‘fake news’, have quickly circulated on X with KRA pin being among the trending topics in the country.

In the mid-morning hours of yesterday, January 9, M-Pesa subscribers were unable to conduct transactions, causing a huge inconvenience for individuals and businesses.

Some customers received messages saying ‘M-Pesa was under maintenance’ and others ‘M-Pesa is currently unable to process your request. Please try again later’.

Millions of Kenyans rely on M-Pesa to make payments and send and receive funds. The technical hitch in the system disrupted the lives of many yesterday, with Kenyans taking to X to express their frustration.

MPESA services were later restored in the afternoon, providing relief for many who rely on the mobile money technology. Safaricom apologized for the inconvenience caused.

Safaricom usually gives early notice for scheduled system maintenance to its MPESA users, which usually happens in the late hours of the night when less disruption is expected.

Kenyans’ fear of KRA tracking their M-Pesa transactions 

At the beginning of 2023, the National Treasury revealed plans to track M-PESA transactions.

At the time, President William Ruto poked holes into the fact that Kenya had only 7 million taxpayers yet Safaricoms’ M-Pesa service had 30 million active users transacting millions of shillings every day.

Ruto’s administration has been serious about increasing tax revenue collection in the country by widening the tax base.

Content creators were among the first group to be targeted by Ruto when he came into office with their income being eligible for taxation.

In the most recent case, the government has come up with a proposal to tax farmers, where for every Ksh 100 they make, KSh 5 will be deducted as tax if the proposal is passed.

When one X user claimed yesterday that M-Pesa was down because it was being integrated with KRA, it raised an alarm among many Kenyans and the news spread fast.

KRA has refuted the claims and Safaricom is yet to comment on the rumour, which continues to spread a day later.