Internet at Nairobi County disconnected

juma chrispinus

January 17, 2018 4:52 PM

Here's why.

Safaricom Limited on Wednesday disconnected Internet services for Nairobi County offices for two hours over a debt amounting to Sh3.2 million.

The new development which comes a day after Nairobi Governor Mike Sonko moved to court to block payment of pending bets amounting to Sh 60 billion, paralysed services for nearly two hours Wednesday morning.

Nairobi County ICT CEC Mr Charles Kerich confirmed the ugly scenario and said that services were disconnected at around 9 am.

The blackout which lasted over two hours are said to have had a huge impact on the service delivery in all sub counties and the headquarters.

"Yes, our internet was disconnected but it has been restored. We talked to Safaricom to give us until January 31 to clear the bill," Mr Kerich said as quoted by the Star.

Long queues were witnessed at cash office as online services affected. JamboPay, a firm contracted to collect cash on behalf of the county, however, confirmed that services could be still paid for through mobile money platforms.

"All services are available online at epaymenyts.nairobi.go.ke," JamboPay’s chief executive Danson Muchemi said.

On Monday, Nairobi county government went to court to stop all payments to its creditors amounting to about Sh60 billion. It is not clear if Safaricom’s debt is part of the Sh60 billion.

In case documents filed on Monday, Governor Mike Sonko argued his office had huge amounts of accrued debts from previous administrations and which cannot be settled owing to laws governing appropriation of funds before use.

juma chrispinus