The family of slain blogger Albert Ojwang is grappling with a new wave of grief after a portion of the funds raised in his memory was allegedly lost in a mobile money fraud incident. Kenneth Ouma, a family spokesperson, revealed the details during an appearance on the Obinna Show.
According to Ouma, Ojwang’s father, Meshack Opiyo, lost access to his M-Pesa account after his ID was stolen during a visit to the City Mortuary in Nairobi. The loss of the ID created an opportunity for fraudsters to swap his SIM card and take over the mobile line.
“At the City Mortuary, with the crowds and movements, he lost his ID. He couldn’t make any M-Pesa withdrawals. When the money was full, we tried to send it to another number, but we couldn’t for a whole night. We couldn’t even transfer to M-Shwari or KCB. The line was already swapped,” Ouma explained.
The fraud occurred after Kenyans of goodwill had flooded Opiyo’s two M-Pesa accounts with donations, following a fundraising appeal initiated by comedian Eric Omondi, who had shared Opiyo’s number on social media. The family later transitioned to using a paybill number due to the overwhelming response.
The scam came to light when Opiyo attempted to access the funds using a new phone. Despite inserting the SIM card, there was no signal, prompting a visit to Safaricom.
“We even bought a new phone, and when we tried to put the SIM card in, there was no network signal, and we went to Safaricom. They explained that somebody had swapped the SIM card or downloaded the Safaricom app. And that was somebody close to where we are and this person was making transactions. He didn’t have the ID and when he got the ID, we did a SIM swap and stopped the illegal transaction on that line. Now we have a fraud investigation that is going on and it is in the hands of the investigation officers. That is when we will know the fraudsters and the amount stolen,” said Ouma.
A colleague who accompanied him on the show added that by the time they recovered the line, only KSh 3,000 remained.
“Just to say that all the amount that was in that line got lost. The only amount found there was KSh 3,000, and that KSh 3,000 was sent after we had swapped,” he said.
Despite the setback, the family confirmed receiving significant support. Ouma said the general public contributed KSh 2.06 million. Additionally, President William Ruto and Azimio leader Raila Odinga donated KSh 2 million and KSh 1 million respectively, bringing the total to KSh 5.6 million.
Investigations into the fraud are ongoing, with the family hoping those responsible will be brought to justice.
