Nairobi — Kenya’s leading telecoms operator, Safaricom, suffered an estimated $3m to $4m in lost revenue from its M-Pesa money transfer business in the past two weeks due a slowdown caused by a tense presidential vote, its CEO said on Thursday. The electoral commission declared President Uhuru Kenyatta the winner of the August 8 election last Friday. His main challenger, opposition leader Raila Odinga, who disputes the outcome, has said he will challenge the result in the country’s supreme court. Most residents stayed at home and many businesses were shut in the run-up to, and during, election week as people feared a flare-up of violence, like in 2007 when 1,200 people were killed in post-election violence. Bob Collymore, the head of Safaricom, which is 35% held by SA’s Vodacom, said most M-Pesa users who rely on daily wages had no cash to send during the period. Its network of M-Pesa agents had also shut down while others reduced the cash they were holding. "How much money did we l...
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