Much is made of the M-Pesa mobile payment platform in Kenya, where 32% of the country’s GNP is transacted in this way, and now is apparently becoming successful in Romania but nowhere else.
Such hysteria is understandable, but there are other fails. Four years ago, a pilot scheme began in Afghanistan where the Police force were paid via M-Paisa, similar to the M-Pesa platform. Initial results were impressive, the corrupt middle man was taken out and Police officers saw an immediate rise in their net salaries.
However, recent data from SIGAR (Office of the Special Inspector General for Afghanistan Reconstruction) suggests that this scheme has failed and that corruption is as prevalent as when the Police were paid ‘normally’.
Previously there was the example of a corrupt Afghani cop who was so angry about not receiving his cut that he took all of his officers’ mobiles to the bank insisting that they be paid in cash. Sadly, this type of behaviour still appears to be the case.
According to SIGAR, the ‘trusted agent’ system that accounts for 18% of these payments means that in 2014 alone more than $45 million of Police pay will be siphoned off by corrupt agents, so the pilot scheme is likely to be brought to an end.
Maybe they should start thinking about Bitcoin… could save the world (and US paymasters) a bundle of real money.
Monty Munford has more than 15 years' experience in mobile, digital media, web and journalism. He is the founder of Mob76, a company that helps tech companies raise money and exit. He speaks regularly at global media events with a focus on Africa, writes a weekly column for The Telegraph, is a regular contributor to The Economist, Wired, Mashable and speaks regularly on the BBC World Service.
