“Hi Cyprian. These are the screenshots of my bro. He committed suicide after losing Ksh900,000 through betting Aviator. He placed Ksh101,000 twice, then Ksh68,000, and more in just one night. We buried him in our rural home in Baringo. Betting is satanic. He was a graduate from Maasai Mara University with a first class.”
That chilling message shared with blogger Cyprian Nyakundi is not just a family’s grief. It is a reflection of a national crisis that is silently consuming Kenya’s youth.
Betting has become a slow death for many young people. It starts with excitement, then turns into an addiction that eats through savings, loans and mental health.
But the saddest part is how deeply this system is enabled by one company that holds the biggest responsibility but continues to act like it is innocent. That company is Safaricom PLC, under CEO Peter Ndegwa.
Through M-PESA, Safaricom has made it effortless to pour money into betting platforms. No checks, no breaks, no signs of care. Someone can lose hundreds of thousands of shillings in a few minutes. The system does not stop to ask questions. It just keeps going. There is no warning pop-up. No spending limits. Nothing.
How does a person withdraw or send over one million shillings in chunks of fifty or one hundred thousand in under five minutes and no red flag is raised?
Even during a presidential campaign, such speed would be impossible with any serious financial oversight. But with Safaricom, it goes unnoticed or worse, ignored.
Many young Kenyans are dying silently. Families are burying brothers and sisters who could not bear the shame of losing everything in one night.
Others are living like zombies, depressed and jobless, spending whatever they get on Aviator or similar betting apps.
Universities are full of students who no longer attend classes but sit glued to their phones, chasing luck that never comes.
While the Betting Control and Licensing Board has failed to act, it is Safaricom that must answer the hardest questions.
Why has it not set daily or weekly caps on betting transactions? Why not block a user from sending large amounts more than once within a short time?
Why not delay the second attempt or lock out a user from sending to a specific paybill number for 24 hours? These are simple controls that would save lives.
Instead, Safaricom seems more interested in protecting profits and pleasing betting companies. It has become the middleman between vulnerable youth and a system designed to drain them dry.
The same Safaricom that is quick to cooperate with rogue officers by handing over call data of whistleblowers or critics cannot explain why it allows endless suspicious transactions in broad daylight.
The family from Baringo that buried their son is not alone. The country is bleeding quietly, and the biggest telecom company is part of the problem.
CEO Ndegwa and his team cannot continue to act blind. This is not just about money. It is about lives. Real lives. And it is time Safaricom took responsibility.