Safaricom apologises after harsh succession tweet to government

Safaricom Headquarters, Nairobi. 

NAIROBI, KENYA: Safaricom has apologised after a system glitch led to unauthorised messages some touching on succession at the giant telecommunication company.

One of the tweets suggested that the telco was not comfortable with government appointee to head the firm after the death of its Chief Executive Officer Bob Collymore on Monday.

Let the government first improve management in @nhifkenya @kenyaAirways, @kenyapipeline, @MumiasSugarCo and many more that have deliberately been run down by state appointees before they can think of imposing their choice on @SafaricomPLC reads a tweet from the official Safaricom twitter handle.

The telco however apologised for the tweets blaming them on a system glitch which it has since rectified.

One of the tweets Safaricom says went out because of a system glitch that has been rectified. [Photo: Courtesy]

Other messages the company mistakenly sent touched on Denis Itumbi who was on Wednesday arrested over links to DP William Ruto ‘murder’ letter.

Erroneous Safaricom tweet

While the other message was to Safaricom care in regards to the data bundles.

Safaricom on Tuesday appointed Michael Joseph to the position of Chief Executive Officer replacing Bob Collymore though temporarily.

The appointment triggered off a heated debate online on the best person to inherit Bob’s position with many like the government rooting for a Kenyan to steer the telco.

Joe Mucheru Cabinet Secretary ICT has repeatedly said his preference would to have a Kenyan steer the telco in its next phase of growth but added that there is a board in place entrusted to make such decisions.

In an interview with K24 TV Tuesday, Joseph said none of the people currently in management was ready to take up the telco’s reins. While Collymore sought treatment abroad, Sateesh Kamath the firm’s chief finance officer and Joseph Ogutu director of Strategy and Innovation were jointly overseeing operations. Sylvia Mulinge, the chief customer officer, has also been seen as a possible contender, at least going by the noise online.

“At this point, we (the Board) thought that none of the people in the executive committee was ready for the role today. This is a special company; you do not put somebody there because they are there. It has to be somebody special who can continue the role,” he said.

In April, sources informed Reuters that Safaricom board interviewed candidates for the top position, including a senior Kenyan banking executive, before settling on an unidentified foreign national from within the Vodafone group to succeed Collymore.

But the government objected, citing an agreement supporting the appointment of a Kenyan as CEO, adopted at a shareholder meeting in 2017.

“The state has said ‘no’. They might have to negotiate,” said the source with knowledge of the succession process.
Reuters further wrote that Joe Mucheru, the Minister for Information Communication and technology, said there had been no formal communication from the company on Collymore’s successor.

However, he said he would be surprised if the board could not find a Kenyan to run the company, adding that part of Collymore’s remit was to groom a local successor.