•Havi acknowledged that he has received a communication from Safaricom directing him to register his line.
•He further told the telecommunication company that they have the necessary details required for the registration
Image: EZEKIEL AMING'A
Former LSK President Nelson Havi has threatened to sue Safaricom in the event they disconnect his line for failing to register himself afresh.
In a tweet on Friday, Havi acknowledged that he has received a communication from Safaricom directing him to register his line.
He, however, told the giant telecommunication company that they have the necessary details required for the registration adding that he will take legal action in the event they disconnect his line.
"You have my ID Card with which the SIM Card was registered. I will take legal action against you, should my line be disconnected."
Havi further appealed to Kenyans not to allow being charged for the registration exercise.
He termed the exercise as illegal and unnecessary saying nobody deserves to pay anything for the service.
"No Kenyan should be inconvenienced or put to unnecessary expense even for Kshs 1 by mobile phone services providers. Let us see if Safaricom will disconnect the over 10M subscribers if we all say NO to this unlawful and unwarranted demand."
His remarks follow a directive issued by the Communication Authority of Kenya which instructed all mobile service providers to register their customers afresh in line with the law by April 15.
According to CA, unregistered SIM cards in Kenya will be deactivated upon the expiry of the deadline.
The new registration directive seeks to boost the fight against crime and improve data accuracy.
CA ordered all mobile network operators to speed up the data cleanup exercise, adding that no more time will be added.
This is the third time in a decade the regulator is coming up with a switch-off deadline after a similar attempt in 2012 and 2018.
Dear @SafaricomPLC, I acknowledge your text to update my SIM Card registration to avoid disconnection. I understand the cost of update is Kshs 300. You have my ID Card with which the SIM Card was registered. I will take legal action against you, should my line be disconnected. pic.twitter.com/9mEWdloUF7
— Nelson Havi (@NelsonHavi) April 8, 2022
Other twitter users also shared their views
What’s the need to re-register simcards. We’ve over 21M kenyans using safaricom lines, and most of them are connected to banks & other financial institutions. If 21M kenyans pay ksh300 for registeration, it will amount to 6.3B. Your guess is as good as mine!
— ***** (@mohamed_hambe) April 8, 2022
@Safaricom_Care you have all my details. No bowing down untill I get clarification on this registration. Are we in the reign of king Nebuchadnezzar? https://t.co/CZOjB7H74Y
— Blessed King (@Blessed25018198) April 8, 2022
Communications Authority has urged most subscribers with SIM cards used for more than 10 years to visit their providers to update their data.
It, however, indicated that most operators have recorded impressive compliance in the past four years.