Your wife hikes a nduthi to a place, maybe rushing to the market or to pick up something from the CBD. She is dropped off and pays using M-Pesa. And she goes along with her daily activities. She finishes and returns home, most probably using another nduthi. Day well spent.
In the middle of the night, when both you and your wife are asleep, someone sends a text, “Hello Beautiful”. She checks it out. It is from a new number. You get shocked and furious, but you find out she is more shocked than you are. “I don’t know this person!” She defends herself.
You force her to call the person in your presence. She does. Then someone, with a strong voice like that of a preacher, answers, “Hello mrembo! Mimi ni ule jamaa nilikubeba na nduthi. Niliona wewe ni mrembo sana! Unasemaje?” What the…. Both of you burst into laughter.
Read Also: M-PESA Rolls Out Data Minimization Feature to Boost Customer Privacy in P2P Transactions
Safaricom seems to have realized this and came up with a very brilliant innovation: the M-Pesa Data Minimization feature. With this feature, when you send someone money or make a payment, only a part of your phone number is displayed. This means that the other party can only see your names, but not your phone number.
This is a great way of protecting your data and phone number from falling into the wrong hands. Next time your wife or you pays a nduthi, you are not scared of them calling you back in the middle of the night, or adding you on wedding and funeral groups of people you have never even heard of or met.
For now, Khabusie.