There are far too many disservice providers in this country- from electricity, to water, Internet services, transport, etc. And as Kenyans crave for quality service, the government proves toothless on this issue. One wonders what role the Kenyan government plays in terms of service provision and punishment of poor service providers. Who will come to the rescue of the customer? Last week, one of our writers wrote about the only thing that a customer demands, which is quality service for what they have paid for. The latest trend it seems is that one has to throw a tantrum on social media for service to be delivered. Customer care lines in most companies are proving futile, and companies are focusing more on saving face than providing service. They thus react faster when a tantrum is thrown in a public platform.

But who are these service providers answerable to? Isn’t it the customer first, and then when push comes to shove, the government? And shouldn’t the government have the interests of the citizen at heart first before anything else, that is, if the government has a heart?

In a very interesting and admirable case, the Nigerian government has taken up the responsibility of punishing poor service providers in the Telecom industry.  The Nigeria Communications Commission is said to have last week fined four mobile phone carriers a total of $7.3 million over poor service. The companies have been repetitively accused of call drops, erratic internet service, down times, incorrect billing, loss of airtime etc.  Those affected were Bharti Airtel Ltd. of India, Abu Dhabi-based Etisalat, local firm Globacom Ltd. and South Africa-based MTN Group Ltd.

 The Uganda’s regulator on the other hand, UCC is planning to start penalizing telecom service providers for poor service. According to the Uganda’s Communications Commission executive director, Mr. Geoffrey Mutabazi, the punishment will be passed on three counts; call drop rate, call block rate, and network availability.

Our problems are not just with the telecom companies. Our problems are widespread. You can barely stretch an arm without poking a disservice provider. And as these providers multiply, our government proves too lenient in meting out stringent measures to ensure quality service. In the meantime, tantrums on social media might be the only way we are going to get quality for our money.