On 24 February 2015 at 15:03, Ali Hussein via kictanet <kictanet@lists.kictanet.or.ke> wrote:

My other point is that the regulatory environment needs to take into consideration the global environment. Mpesa must be allowed space to grow beyond Kenya. Mpesa here means any Kenyan product. We must emulate Japan & other Asian Giants. Policy and regulation must as a matter of course favor local companies. I make no apologies for this last point - Free markets are a dream perpetuated by foreign interests with the end game of dominance.

Ali, the tragedy is Vodafone pulled the rug from under our feet. They saw the value of MPESA long ago and patented it, thus licensing it to Sub Saharan Africa and Southern Asian countries. Thus it's not possible for Safaricom to grow the MPESA brand beyond our borders. That is what Vodafone has been doing all along.

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Mwendwa Kivuva, Nairobi, Kenya

"There are some men who lift the age they inhabit, till all men walk on higher ground in that lifetime." - Maxwell Anderson