By Antony Gitonga
Naivasha, Kenya: Revelers in Naivasha could soon be going ‘thirsty’ following a threat by the Naivasha Bar Owners and Operators Association to stop selling East Africa Breweries Limited products.
The traders are incensed by a new directive from the company requiring them to buy beer through M-Pesa, a move they have termed as punitive and unworkable.
The association has given the beer company a one week ultimatum to reverse the decision failure to which they will stop selling their products.
According to the association, members will not transact any business with EABL effective from May 7 until the issue is addressed.
Addressing the press at Naivasha, the association’s secretary Joseph Mwangi said the company imposed a new mode of payment that took effect from May 1, 2013 whereby they were supposed to pay through M-Pesa.
Mwangi argued they incur extra costs because of transaction fees charged through the service.
“The distributors are exposing us to risks such as insecurity and time wastage,” said Mwangi adding that this mode of payment would have led them to spend over Sh200,000 per month.
Mwangi added that they have been forced to move from one M-Pesa agent to another in search of float in order to send the money to the distributors.
“Another challenge is that most of the members are not Safaricom subscribers therefore impeding the transaction to those subscribed to other networks,” said Mwangi.
The association’s meeting on April 29, 2013 with the area representative of distributors to solve the problem on was unfruitful, he said.
Speaking at the same press conference, the association’s chairman John Muraya decried the move arguing that that kind of transaction will hinder them from accessing bank services such as loans.
“This mode will deny us contact with the bank since no money will be going through the bank hence we will not be in a position to access bank services,” said Muraya.
They are now calling on the company to lift the directive.
