Editor, RE: “Kenya to launch world’s first mobile-only government bond” (The New Times, March 22). It is like a game of cat and mouse here. Safaricom stalking up even greater wars with the Kenyan banking sector, prizing away the latter’s lunch. With the banks having lobbied the regulator (CAK) hard for the telco to trade openly and showcase USSD charges across all the various platform players we now have a counter-jab by Safaricom. A previously mothballed product by Safaricom that would have disintermediated the banks from the bond market – rich pickings of low hanging fruit through the purchase of risk-free GoK assets. And we know how lucrative owning treasuries has been for banks in general. Someone is going to get badly bruised here. I can’t see this ending well. Ultimately the customer is the winner here...albeit short-lived. Ggwanga Mujje
