Kabogo slams unfair data pricing, pledges policy changes to protect Kenyans
He expressed his frustration with the practice, stating that he had voiced his concerns on social media, even suggesting at the time that he would stop using Safaricom due to the issue.
ICT CS nominee William Kabogo has stated that he will ensure Kenyans have access to non-expiring data from telecommunications services to prevent them from being exploited.
Speaking during his vetting, Kabogo shared a personal experience in which he purchased data, only to find that it had expired shortly afterwards.
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“I personally have been a victim of buying data, and within the next week or so, I was told my data had expired. If you go to my X handle, I did express my concerns to Safaricom, and I said we should stop using Safaricom at that point in time. That was my belief. You cannot go to a shop, Mister Speaker, and buy sugar, and then come to my house and tell me how not to use or how to use that sugar," he said.
He expressed his frustration with the practice, stating that he had voiced his concerns on social media, even suggesting at the time that he would stop using Safaricom due to the issue.
He pointed out that Safaricom now offers the option for consumers to choose between data with expiry and data without expiry, but he criticised the pricing structure, where non-expiring data is more expensive.
He argued that this pricing system unfairly exploits citizens and called for a policy to address what he described as "daylight theft."
“Since then, I really had back and forth with Safaricom. Now they give you an option of buying data without expiry or data with expiry. So, you choose whatever it is that you feel is good for you. It was very disappointing for me that day, and I believe for most Kenyans. We need a policy because if you make expirable data more expensive, and data that does not expire cheaper, then what you're doing is you're robbing citizens,” he said.
Kabogo emphasised the need for consumer protection in the country, stating that the Ministry of ICT has a duty to safeguard data users from such practices.
“We need a policy to stop this daylight theft because there's something called consumer protection in this country. The Minister of ICT owes this country a duty of care to protect consumers of data, to just have non-expiring data,” he said.
“If I’m confirmed, I’ll fix it,” he added, committing to resolve the issue for the benefit of Kenyans.
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