Kenyan MPESA users have a reason to smile, after Safaricom halted the RIP message.
Recently, there was an uproar on social media after Kenyans raised concerns over use of ‘RIP’, popularly interpreted as ‘Rest In Peace’ on Mpesa transaction message. The irated Kenyans noted that begining September 25, 2023, Safaricom’s M-Pesa mobile money transaction messages began with the alphabetical order RIP.
While taking the rants on social media, hawk-eyed Kenyans who noticed the establishment, urged Safaricom to skip the code and generate a new one.
“Oya SafaricomPLC, Safaricom_Care. Mpesa codes cannot begin with RIP please….rukeni hiyo buana ,” Ms Oguttu confronted Safaricom.
In response, Safaricom maintained that the code was automatically generated by thir systems.
“Hello Linda, unfortunately, it is automatically generated by the system hence we are not able to change it.” Safaricom replied.
The conversation turned into banter as Linda asked Safaricom to “hand over the phone” to the system so that they could sort this matter out but Safaricom assured her that, “You are safe. No weapon formed shall prosper.”
However, Safaricom’s responses were not adequate enough for their customers who told them they could do better.
“The system was programmed by a technician, and it can also be reprogrammed to skip the code,” said The Peasant Farmer.
“Bwana your system has gone rogue,” added Sam NM KE.
“Ata NTSA walichorea stori ya kupeana number plates zinaanza na KDF ” added Joe Claver.
KDF in Kenya is popularly used to refer to the Kenya Defense Forces and civilians are not allowed to have number plates bearing these alphabets sequenced in this manner. The National Transport and Safety Authority issued vehicle registration plates KDE and then skipped to KDG.
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To understand Safaricom’s code generation, a Kenyan user, Anagram254, attempted to explain how the telecommunications company goes about it.
“All M-Pesa codes for transactions made today start with RIP. R represents 2023. All M-Pesa codes next year will start with the letter S. I represents September. All M-Pesa codes next month will have the letter J as the second digit. P represents today’s date, 25,” said Anagram254.
And true to Anagram’s opinion, Kenyans now have a reason to smile as the code as changed to RIQ.
