Fear of harambees makes men to be wary of putting their cash on M-Pesa, report

Men fear holding their earnings on M-Pesa because the money is easily spent on harambees, attending to emergency needs of relatives and spending on friends and relatives.

However, unlike men who have a love-hate relationship with mobile money, women see cash transfers to other women as a way to show affection and care.

This is according to findings gleaned from FSD’s FinAccess Data collected in 2009 and 2016.

The survey showed that men are not necessarily opposed to mobile money, with those interviewed in Nairobi’s low-income communities in Mathare and Kariobangi noting that mobile money helped them galvanise their earning potential, especially through facilitating business.

They have, however, noted that mobile money exposed them to relatives and acquaintances making claims on those earnings.

Men in several parts of the city said they were liable to networks of dependents, including close family members and relatives as well as friends and mpango wa kando (extra-marital partners).

“Women, on the other hand, were greater proponents of mobile money and the changes it offered them in everyday life. They often described their transfers to other women, not in the language of obligation, but affection and care,” said the report.

Women claimed that mobile money had made it imperative for young men to prove their earning potential before marriage through sending their migrant labour remittances.

Consistent

On the 10th anniversary of M-Pesa, former Safaricom CEO Michael Joseph explained how the service was conceived, noting that after testing an idea of microfinance loans using mobile phones, it was noticed that people who received the loans sent the money to other people hundreds of miles away.

“In hindsight, we had inadvertently identified one of Kenya’s biggest financial challenges.”

He said in Kenya, and other parts of Africa, the breadwinner would travel to urban areas to work while their family stayed behind. “In order to send money to their relatives, people would travel for days to get home or give the money to a bus driver,” he said.

It appears that men are now becoming wary of these constant cash transfers as the burden grows heavier.

Fund-raising among Kenyans is popular, with most of the money paid through mobile money.

The report found that despite being less active in the use of mobile money accounts (68 per cent of women compared to 76 per cent of men), women were more likely to use them on a consistent monthly basis than men.

The survey showed that this might be related to the responsibilities of managing household budgets. The report found that women still lagged behind men in access to financial services.

About 76 per cent of men claimed the use of mobile money for sending, receiving, saving, business, donations, travelling, while 68 per cent of women claimed active use of mobile money for these services.

The FSD report also found that women still lagged behind in financial inclusion, with more having bank accounts. The report found that mobile money was better placed to bridge the gender gap.