Safaricom dismissed 118 employees over fraud-related offences in the 2025/2026 financial year, up from 113 in the previous year, as the telecommunications company intensified efforts to protect customer information and strengthen internal controls.
The disclosures are contained in the company’s 2026 Sustainable Business Report, launched at the Michael Joseph Centre in Nairobi on Tuesday, October 27, which details the disciplinary measures taken against employees accused of misconduct.
The report shows that Safaricom issued three disciplinary warnings during the financial year and referred 14 cases to law enforcement agencies, double the seven referrals recorded in the preceding year.
The company identified theft, falsification of records, unauthorised access to customer call records, security breaches and criminal offences among the grounds that may lead to dismissal.
Employees may also face termination where their conduct violates employment obligations or amounts to gross misconduct, depending on the findings of investigations and the nature of the offence.
Safaricom’s report outlines a process for identifying and investigating suspected fraud, either through customer complaints or proactively through its fraud management system.
Once an incident is flagged, a manager or the Ethics and Compliance team investigates the allegations and recommends whether the matter should be resolved informally or through a formal disciplinary process.
Investigations are documented in reports prepared outside the fraud management system, while password-protected spreadsheets accessible exclusively to the Ethics and Compliance team are used to track cases.
Upon completion of an investigation, a summary report and supporting documents are forwarded to Human Resources for further action.
A disciplinary committee then determines the appropriate outcome under the company’s policies and procedures. Possible measures include warnings, dismissal or referral of suspected criminal offences to law enforcement agencies.
The report identifies fraud as the most common category of concern reported through Safaricom’s ethics hotline during the financial year.
The company recorded an 82 per cent reduction in fraud incidents against a target of 90 per cent, while recovering 46 per cent of reported fraud losses.
Safaricom also recovered Sh953 million linked to inflated agent commissions through monitoring and data analytics. The amount was lower than the Sh1.7 billion recovered in the previous financial year.
Separately, the company monitored approximately 1.25 billion cyber intrusion attempts and investigated more than 130,000 security events during the year.
Speaking during Tuesday’s report launch, Safaricom Group Chief Executive Peter Ndegwa reaffirmed the importance of protecting customers in an increasingly digital economy.
“Those numbers underline why digital trust is not an IT issue. It is a leadership issue, a customer issue and increasingly a sustainability issue,” Ndegwa said.
The company reported that privacy trust scores improved during the financial year, reaching 70 per cent for M-PESA and 61 per cent for Safaricom.
Safaricom’s disclosures come amid legal requirements governing workplace discipline and termination in Kenya.
Section 41 of the Employment Act requires an employer considering termination on grounds of misconduct to explain the reason to the employee and give them an opportunity to respond. The employee is entitled to be accompanied by another employee or a shop-floor union representative of their choice.
An employer must hear and consider the employee’s representations before termination or summary dismissal for misconduct, in accordance with the applicable statutory requirements.
In a separate case reported in August 2026, the Employment and Labour Relations Court upheld Safaricom’s dismissal of former regional expansion head Brian Njoroge Wamatu in a dispute involving alleged unauthorised access to and sharing of confidential company and customer information.
The court found that Safaricom had a valid reason for the dismissal and had followed a fair disciplinary process.
The latest figures highlight the company’s continued use of internal investigations, disciplinary procedures and referrals to law enforcement as it addresses fraud and seeks to maintain customer confidence in its telecommunications and mobile money services.