MOMBASA, Kenya, Feb 18 – Police on Thursday morning arrested two Muslim for Human Rights (MUHURI) officials for protesting the payment of toll charges by mobile money at Mombasa’s Likoni crossing channel.
Motorists using the channel are supposed to pay the toll charges via M-Pesa.
MUHURI Chairperson Khelef Khalifa and Rapid Response Officer Francis Auma on Thursday led the protest against the Kenya Ferry Services (KFS) management for forcing motorists to use Safaricom services.
According to Khalifa, motorists who do not use Safaricom lines were being turned away.
KFS partnered with Safaricom in October 2020 to introduce M-Pesa toll payment to curb corruption at the channel. Motorists have to dial *721# to pay their toll charges.
However, MUHURI wrote to KFS management asking them to introduce several mobile-based payment platforms to accommodate clients who don’t have Safaricom lines.
“What we want is to have several modes of payment, not M-Pesa only. Why is KFS management forcing people to use Safaricom services only? This is not right,” said Khalifa.
MUHURI has since instructed its lawyers to draft a petition which they will present in court to stop payment at the channel via M-Pesa.
The two MUHURI officials were held at the Kenya Ferry Police booth awaiting arraignment in court. It was not immediately clear what charges they faced.
