Churches in Kenya rushed to register PayBill Numbers moments after the government announced a ban on all public meetings.
In a report that was unveiled by Safaricom, the company’s Chief Customer Officer said that they had received more than 900 applications in the first 6 hours since the ban was put to place, highlighting the important role that the communication company plays in the Kenyan financial sector.
Most of them did not even know what they wanted, instead calling Safaricom and requesting to be given ‘church offering M-PESA services’ while others wanted their personal M-PESA limits to be increased in order to receive offering.
“We feel like these churches should be tithing to Safaricom because we are the ones who sustain them by giving them the much-needed lifeline. If we were to stop the service, these churches would have to close shop.”
One pastor interviewed defended the move as a critical measure necessary in these strange times. “The high demand for Paybill numbers is an indication that churches a very serious on the spiritual welfare of their members, especially ensuring that they do not miss out on the blessings associated with giving.”
The other areas where churches are panic spending include buying airtime on local radio stations, as well as opening Facebook pages for their institutions. The government is also happy because from now henceforth they will be able to monitor the amount of money that churches receive, majorly for the purpose of shaming them when necessary.
It is not clear how mosques are responding to the situation.
