Parliament wants the Communications Authority (CA) to postpone its planned deactivation of all unregistered SIM cards until the current drought situation is over.
MPs from drought-stricken areas have appealed to the CA and telcos giant Safaricom not to deregister the lines arguing it is the last lifeline for families who receive cash transfers and other stipends from the government and donors.
The female lawmakers from pastoralist communities said families who have registered their lines to receive cash will be affected if the CA and the telecommunication operators switch off the unregistered mobile numbers.
The CA in March issued a directive requiring Safaricom, Airtel, and Telkom Kenya to carry out fresh registration of all their mobile telephone subscribers, including subscribers who are already registered.
The CA extended the deadline to October 15, 2022, to allow the telecommunications firms to conduct a clean-up of its subscriber lines as the state moves to consolidate efforts to improve data accuracy.
“We are concerned with the directive of the Communication Authority to disconnect all unregistered telephone lines by October 15, 2022, during such difficult time,” Naomi Waqo, the Marsabit Woman Representative said.
The female MPs said millions of vulnerable and poor families in drought-stricken areas are dependent on their phone lines to receive cash transfers from agencies, families, and well-wishers and disconnecting the phone lines will be insensitive to the situation and the plight of poor families.
“We request that this deadline be relaxed until the drought situation is over and the drought-stricken pastoralists in the remote areas are able to travel to town centres to register their phone lines,” the MPs said.
This is the third cleanup of unregistered mobile telephone lines in the country with the previous ones having been done in 2012 and 2018.
