On Tuesday, millions of Kenyans were left stranded after Safaricom’s Mpesa experienced a nationwide outage.
Mpesa receives millions of transactions a day, and essentially runs the economy. In recent years, the service has experienced numerous outages which have paralyzed businesses and left millions of Kenyans who don’t carry cash around with no alternatives.
Yesterday, Kenyans using the service received a message informing them to attempt the transaction again after 10 minutes, which inconvenienced those who were at points of payments, such as supermarkets and petrol stations.
It was unclear what caused the outage, but services were soon restored.
As usual, Kenyans on Twitter were quick to make fun of the situation. Here are some of the best memes.
Mpesa is back unlike that person you thought was the love of your life pic.twitter.com/NAcOHZpU2O
— Limo (@Limorio_) January 9, 2024
Venye broke and unemployed niggas tunashangaa from the comfort of our fathers couch mkistress about Mpesa
pic.twitter.com/L3eO3XrsWr— Kuwams🍉 (@kuwamocho_) January 9, 2024
Mpesa delays after get a haircut.
Barber: pic.twitter.com/HcvtaiYYAl
— Timoshenko (@Kianangih) January 9, 2024
Thank you @Safaricom_Care Mpesa😡 pic.twitter.com/AmMhMG6tDG
— MR RIGHT™🇰🇪 (@MrRightke) January 9, 2024
Broke me wondering people saying Mpesa is not working pic.twitter.com/O29f9dFGf4
— KOT Socha 🇰🇪 (@Kotsocha_ke) January 9, 2024
Calling mpesa Mgongo because it's back pic.twitter.com/3SkFjTpsBj
— 𝐆𝐑𝐀𝐕𝐈𝐓𝐘 (@iconic_gravity) January 9, 2024
Just like Mpesa I can go down on you
Sends to many pic.twitter.com/qfGpG53fjE
— KESH (@wangecike_) January 9, 2024
Scenes after eating 10 chapatis at DCI Juja Kibanda and telling him you can't pay Safaricom Mpesa is not working pic.twitter.com/3qkNd8eBZ0
— Kijana Ya Atwoli ( parody ) (@AtwoliiYa) January 9, 2024
Safaricom : Our expertise are trying to fix the Mpesa problem
The Expertise : pic.twitter.com/KvSXWIqpxK
— Kijana Ya Atwoli ( parody ) (@AtwoliiYa) January 9, 2024
Safaricom Mpesa intern right now pic.twitter.com/0cPDnxaV0w
— R¡cky (@guylikericky) January 9, 2024
Safaricom Mpesa and KPLC whenever it comes to disappointing Kenyans pic.twitter.com/pnviz22Zfx
— Kijana Ya Atwoli ( parody ) (@AtwoliiYa) January 9, 2024
Makanga taking me to safaricom offices to check mpesa my mpesa message😂😂 pic.twitter.com/ynF9GUoN5V
— Gen Z updates (@its_vus1) January 9, 2024
Kenyans:- Mpesa is not working 😫
KPLC:- First time uh…. pic.twitter.com/OhbsvdwgtH
— THE NAIROBIYAN™ (@ThepemlinKee) January 9, 2024
Comrades knowing well Mpesa ain't working
"Naweza lipa na Mpesa?" pic.twitter.com/arFIiVatWi
— MR KIMM™🇰🇪 (@Keam_254) January 9, 2024
Airtel money users after realizing Mpesa is not working pic.twitter.com/fBLNHFPovj
— THE NAIROBIYAN™ (@ThepemlinKee) January 9, 2024
Pastor wa Matatu after kuskia Mpesa haifanyi na asha ubiri pic.twitter.com/EOBQLeHGnJ
— THE NAIROBIYAN™ (@ThepemlinKee) January 9, 2024
MPESA and Safaricom can go down anytime, but my love for you will never go down. It’s always ignited. I miss your cooking and your late night calls. Tell your mama I said hi. You don't have to reply. pic.twitter.com/SaqWX7Gz4t
— Gerald Ngao 🇰🇪 (@ItsKyuleNgao) January 9, 2024
Telkom watching Kenyans switching from Mpesa and Airtel Money pic.twitter.com/dq9tMksEdb
— JABALAND (@Jabalandke) January 9, 2024
Saa hii pale Koinange ukijaribu kueleza kuna Mpesa delays pic.twitter.com/29m7P3gay2
— The Chosen (@Thechoosen_01) January 9, 2024
Namna gani? What's wrong with MPESA? pic.twitter.com/B3mxNUQ40J
— 𝐌𝐀Î𝐓𝐑𝐄 (@1Griseldad) January 9, 2024
Mpesa to comrades and other users pic.twitter.com/rgZ2ypRVXy
— Helter Skelter (@Ngafocus) January 9, 2024