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Three M-Pesa account holders in Kenya are seeking to compel Safaricom to disclose the mobile money platform’s financial statements as opposed to an application by the telco to suspend their petition.
Three M-Pesa account holders in Kenya are seeking to compel Safaricom to disclose the mobile money platform’s financial statements as opposed to an application by the telco to suspend their petition. The petitioners argued that the matter was of immense public interest and that the company should reveal its financial status to ensure transparency.
- Gichuki Waigwa, Lucy Nzola, and Godfrey Okutoyi sued Safaricom, Vodafone Group Plc, and M-Pesa Holding Company, among others, seeking a string of declarations. Among them included an order lifting the corporate veil on Safaricom and its affiliate firms. The three filed the case on their behalf and that of M-Pesa account holders seeking to compel M-Pesa Holding Company—the firm that holds hundreds of billions of shillings powering the mobile money service—to disclose its annual reports and accounts from the date of its incorporation on September 11, 2006, to date.
While responding to the application by Safaricom to the High Court, seeking the suspension of the suit and having it referred to arbitration, the three petitioners stated that it would be highly prejudicial to the public interest for the matter to be heard by an arbitrator.
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The application states that there is no document signed between M-Pesa account holders and M-Pesa Holding so the dispute cannot be handled by an arbitrator as suggested by Safaricom. The petitioners said the Arbitration Act cannot be invoked in the dispute, given that the suit raises issues of constitutional importance for the High Court to determine the application comes weeks after the telco announced that Safaricom had acquired the entire share capital of M-Pesa Holding from Vodafone International Holdings BV. Safaricom investors voted for a special resolution that approved the transaction.
