M-PESA is no longer just a payment app! How should African nations handle a massive fintech that has become national infrastructure!
The mobile money service "M-PESA," which is widely used in Kenya, is no longer just a payment app.
The background to this recognition gaining renewed attention is a specific transaction: the partial sale of Safaricom shares being pushed forward by the Kenyan government.
The government has indicated a policy to sell 15% of its Safaricom shares to Vodacom Group (South Africa), a subsidiary of the Vodafone Group, to secure funds for infrastructure investment without increasing public debt. It can be called an extremely realistic policy decision amidst tightening fiscal constraints.
On the other hand, this move has simultaneously sparked concerns that the actual control structure of M-PESA as a national payment infrastructure might change.
This issue has led to the very positioning of M-PESA being questioned once again.
1. When did M-PESA go beyond being a "payment app"?
In 2025, the transaction volume processed by M-PESA reached 83.7 trillion Kenyan shillings. This is equivalent to approximately four times Kenya's GDP.
Salary payments, tuition remittances, commercial transactions, taxes, and utility bills—almost all daily economic activities flow through this single private platform.
With over 32 million monthly active users, it accounts for approximately 95% of retail payments. This is a level that cannot be described simply by the term "high penetration rate." M-PESA is no longer an "option" for economic activity, but a "prerequisite."
Once it reached this scale, M-PESA was no longer just a "successful fintech company." It changed its nature into a social infrastructure where, if it were to stop, the very bloodstream of the economy would stagnate.
2. The "national infrastructure" status officially recognized by the Central Bank
The first to clearly state this reality in words as a financial authority was the Central Bank of Kenya (CBK). In January 2026, Central Bank of Kenya Governor Kamau Thugge stated in Parliament that if M-PESA were to malfunction, it would have a significant impact on Kenya's real economy
.
This means that the Central Bank has officially positioned M-PESA not as a "convenient financial service," but as a "systemically important entity (Too Big to Fail)" that would damage the real economy if it were to collapse.
It was the moment when a feeling that had long been shared in households, businesses, and government settings was clearly expressed for the first time in the words of the national financial authority.
What the Central Bank of Kenya emphasizes in particular is the point that M-PESA is deeply intertwined with the banking system. Approximately 250 billion Kenyan shillings in customer funds deposited in M-PESA are secured in commercial bank trust accounts.
While this is a mechanism for user protection, it also means that it has a structure where failures in M-PESA could ripple into bank liquidity and the credibility of the entire financial system.
As long as this structure exists, M-PESA's issues are not about telecommunications or IT. They are issues of financial stability itself.
3. The reason why the Central Bank still supports the sale of Safaricom shares
What is noteworthy is that even while acknowledging M-PESA as a national infrastructure-level entity, the Central Bank of Kenya assesses that the partial sale of Safaricom shares itself will not undermine the stability of the financial system.
The Central Bank of Kenya explains that this transaction is expected to increase foreign exchange reserves and stabilize the shilling exchange rate, and could also lead to lower interest rates by curbing excessive domestic borrowing by the government.
It also emphasizes that even if Vodacom's stake increases, M-PESA will continue to be subject to strict regulation and oversight, and that customer funds in the electronic money system will be managed in a way that is isolated from the risks of the group as a whole.
The position of the Central Bank of Kenya is clear: the important thing is not who owns how many shares, but rather whether stability as national infrastructure can be guaranteed through regulation and governance.
4. Another perspective: "National Security" as indicated by the opposition
On the other hand, there are persistent voices challenging this view. Civic groups such as the Consumer Federation of Kenya (COFEK) and some members of parliament point out that entrusting the effective control of payment infrastructure, which can be called the nervous system of the national economy, to foreign capital carries national security risks.
Member of Parliament Ndindi Nyoro sounded the alarm regarding the sale at a time when Safaricom is showing profit growth of over 50%, warning that it could lead to selling off future value at a bargain.
Two valid arguments—short-term fiscal stability and long-term maintenance of national asset value—are colliding head-on.
5. Should the state "own" massive fintech?
The debate over the sale of Safaricom shares is not just about the pros and cons of the sale itself. I feel it is a more fundamental question of how the state should handle a payment foundation through which funds four times the size of GDP flow.
What emerges from the series of statements by the Central Bank of Kenya is the idea of "governance, not ownership".
The important thing is not the shareholding ratio, but rather whether the state can institutionally guarantee regulation, governance, crisis response design, and redundancy based on dependence on a single platform.
6. M-Pesa is anticipating "Africa's future"
The challenges M-PESA faces are not unique to Kenya.
In the future, massive digital platforms that handle payments, ID, credit information, and public services in an integrated manner will emerge one after another in African countries.
Each time, the question of "how should the state handle a private platform that has become too successful?" will be asked repeatedly.
M-PESA may be an entity that has embodied that future a step ahead of everyone else.
M-PESA is no longer a payment app. It is national infrastructure.
And as national infrastructure, the question may not be "who owns it," but "who is responsible for governing it."
Reference Information
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