We have been here before and it is happening again. Safaricom PLC has taken to social media to inform Kenyans of an outage on M-PESA services scheduled to last for five hours.

M-PESA subscribers will not be able to access any service on the mobile platform on 25th June 2020 from midnight to 5 am. Luckily, the timing of this maintenance is planned to bring the least inconvenience to Kenyans. With the ongoing curfew, you won’t expect many users to have a dire need for the services then.

“In this regard, our M-PESA services shall be undergoing planned maintenance on the morning of Thursday 25th June 2020, between 0000 hrs and 0500 hrs. During this maintenance, all M-PESA services including airtime purchase shall be temporarily unavailable,” the statement reads.

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This announcement comes days after Safaricom announced that the waiver on M-PESA transaction charges had lapsed. This was prompted by the expiration of the agreement between the Central Bank of Kenya and banks and telcos to adjust prices amid the coronavirus outbreak.

This was also done in a bid to increase usage of digital payment methods across the country and help curb the spread of the virus. Luckily, the CBK just released a statement today. The deal has now been extended, meaning the waiver still remains.

As we all know, there are still growing numbers of confirmed COVID-19 cases in the country. Furthermore,  a second wave is also expected by various health authorities which could affect the global economy even more. So, this decision by CBK is a good initiative to keep Kenyans safe from the chances of spreading the virus through physical cash exchange.