Access Now, alongside several human rights organisations, is calling on the Vodacom Group, as a major shareholder in Safaricom, to launch an urgent, independent, and publicly accessible assessment into the company’s role in potential human rights violations in relation to the ongoing protests in Kenya.
Since June 2024, online and offline mass protests across Kenya have been met with police violence, censorship, and state repression, resulting in the death of at least 60 people. Including, most recently, the teacher Albert Ojwang, who was kidnapped by police and found dead in police custody a few days later. This sparked protests across the country, which were met with extremely violent crackdowns and media blackouts by authorities. This resulted in at least 26 people being killed in the past two weeks alone, and the Interior Cabinet Secretary issuing a “shoot-to-kill” order.
In the past year, there have been 159 cases of extrajudicial killings and enforced disappearances in Kenya. With law enforcement authorities committing such egregious human rights violations, shareholders must act now to ensure that Safaricom’s law enforcement assistance practices are not putting their 45 million customers at risk.Jaimee Kokonya, Africa Campaigner at Access Now
The open letter demands transparency on Safaricom’s dealings with law enforcement’s data-sharing requests and practices. Safaricom, as a telecommunications provider and data processor under Kenya’s Data Protection Act, collects and stores sensitive personal data, including call detail records (CDRs) and biometric data. CDRs can reveal a person’s real-time location and network of associations — information that, if accessed arbitrarily, through communication surveillance, can endanger lives. Concerns have also been raised about Safaricom’s software partner, Neural Technologies. Investigations by Nation Africa found that Neural Technologies software may allow security agencies to bypass due process and access CDRs remotely.
Vodacom responded to the letter on July 4, 2025, but did little to address the concerns relating to human rights due diligence and transparency on the data-sharing practices of Safaricom.
In its response to Access Now, the company has stated that Safaricom’s practices are commensurate with international standards. However, the company’s annual transparency reporting does not include any reporting on human rights due diligence, which could provide critical information on how Safaricom is tracking, mitigating, and addressing potential human rights abuses.Christina O’Connell, Business and Human Rights Campaigner at Access Now
Both Safaricom and Vodacom, according to their policies, state that they assess the impacts of their business activities and ensure that any negative impacts are mitigated. However, these assessments are not publicly available. Safaricom’s stakeholders have no way of determining whether or not their telecommunications provider is putting them at risk. This lack of trust is already driving customers to boycott the company. When the stakes are as high as death, torture, and enforced disappearances, Safaricom customers deserve more than just verbal assurances.
As a major shareholder, Vodacom has a duty to launch an immediate review of Safaricom’s business practices, including, but not limited to, their data-sharing practices with law enforcement and full transparency on the nature of Safaricom’s relationship with Neural Technologies, to ensure they have not violated the rights of their customers.
Read the open letter.