Tuesday 8 October 2013

Westgate attack; Safaricom, Airtel on spot

The Communications Commission of Kenya( CCK) had given mobile service firms up-to December 2012 to registers all their subscribers and switch off the SIM cards belonging to those who had not complied to the regulation. The firms have however found themselves on the wrong side of the law with the police claiming some of the SIM cards used by the Westgate Mall attackers were not registered.

                                          CCKoffices in Nairobi

Police has warned four mobile phone firms' bosses and their vendors  that they risked arrest over criminal offences committed through any unregistered SIM cards on their network.  Bob Collymore,the Safaricom boss was questioned at CID headquarters while  Shivan Bhargava of Airtel reported to Makadara DCIO office to record his statement. Telkom’s Kenya CEO Mickael Ghossein was grilled  at the Kilimani CID offices on Monday night.

The police and CCK officials   are carrying out a swoop around the country to investigate if mobile phone companies and their agents comply with the Communications Act and regulations that were issued last December.