Safaricom fires 118 staff and recovers $7.34 million in fraud crackdown

East Africa’s leading telecoms operator Safaricom Plc dismissed 118 employees in FY26 ending March 31, 2026, following internal fraud investigations, according to disclosures in the company’s latest Sustainability Report.

The disciplinary actions come as Safaricom looks to step up its anti-financial crime safeguards across its telecoms and M-PESA mobile money ecosystem. This also comes amid heightened regulatory scrutiny after Kenya was placed on the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) grey list.

According to the 2026 Safaricom Sustainable Business Report 2026 released on Tuesday, October 27, 2026, Safaricom investigated several fraud cases in FY ‘26. The investigations resulted in 118 employee dismissals, up from 113 in FY25; 3 disciplinary warnings, which was an increase from 0 in FY25; and 14 cases referred to law enforcement agencies, which doubled from 7 in FY25.

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According to the report, employees can face dismissal where their conduct breaches rules and obligations under their employment contracts or amounts to gross misconduct. The offences identified range from theft to falsification of company records, unauthorised access to customer call records, security and compliance breaches, and other criminal offences.

Group CEO Peter Ndegwa, during the six-month ending September 2025 financial statement announcement. (IM: Safaricom X page)

As part of the anti-fraud enforcement, its proactive monitoring and analytics enabled the recovery of $7.34 million (Ksh953 million) linked specifically to inflated agent commissions.

Reacting to the sustainability report and how the company is fostering digital trust, Group CEO Peter Ndegwa said the report reflects how the company creates value for the society it serves.

“Our 2026 report reflects the value created across our business, communities and the environment, while outlining the work ahead: responding to rising energy demand, reducing value-chain emissions and strengthening digital trust,” he said.

How Safaricom identifies fraud

In FY’ 26, Safaricom identified physical social engineering as the leading fraud vector targeting subscribers. Technical upgrades, including security APIs under Daraja 3.0 and real-time transaction monitoring under Fintech 2.0, were deployed to identify and curb identity theft.

In addition, the report detailed the company’s process of identifying suspected fraud, which can be through customer complaints or through the company’s fraud management system.

Once a case is flagged, a manager or the Ethics and Compliance team investigates and recommends whether the matter should be handled informally or through a formal disciplinary process. Safaricom says investigations are tracked using password-protected spreadsheets accessible only to the Ethics and Compliance team.

IM: CIOAfrica

The investigation records and final reports are prepared manually outside the fraud management system before being updated after the process is concluded. After an investigation is concluded, a summary report and supporting documents are forwarded to Human Resources for further action.

Afterwards, a disciplinary committee determines the outcome in accordance with the company’s policy and procedures. Possible outcomes include a warning, dismissal or referral of a suspected criminal offence to law enforcement agencies.

Outside anti-fraud: Safaricom’s 2,028 solar telecom towers

Beyond anti-fraud and compliance measures, Safaricom achieved key operational milestones across environmental protection and its workforce growth.

The company’s telecom towers that depend on Solar PV as their energy source have now expanded to 2,028 site locations, including about 800 battery and rectifier upgrades. It also recycled 100% of network waste and 97% of solid waste, while maintaining a CDP ‘A’ rating for climate change disclosures for the second consecutive year.

Total employee headcount grew to 5,648 employees in FY26, comprising 2,844 male and 2,804 female employees. Also, permanent staff achieved almost the same gender parity, with 49.9% female and 50.1% male. In extension of its gender balance push, women hold 33.3% of executive leadership roles and 43.9% of senior management positions.

Safaricom holds a customer base of 71.56 million across its Kenyan (57.9 million) and Ethiopian (13.6 million) markets. Its mobile money operation, M-PESA, has now crossed 41 million users with 70,000 merchants on the platform.

Also Read: Airtel Kenya seeks licences to build own infrastructure, challenge Safaricom, Telkom.