Safaricom says no decision yet on Bob Collymore successor

Safaricom has denied reports indicating that the company is embroiled in a row over who will succeed CEO Bob Collymore whose tenure comes to an end in August this year.

On Monday, Reuters reported that Safaricom’s board has settled on an unidentified foreign national from within the Vodafone group to succeed Collymore, but the Kenyan government ostensibly objected to the decision.

According to the Reuter’s report, the government insists on the appointment of a Kenyan as CEO, in line with an agreement said to have been adopted at a shareholder meeting in 2017.

However, in a statement issued on Tuesday, the leading telco’s Chairman Nicholas Nganga said the company is yet to make a decision on who will succeed Collymore.

“Our attention has been drawn to the story published on April 29th 2019 by Reuters News Agency regarding the position of CEO at Safaricom PLC.

“I would like to state that the Safaricom PLC board has not made a decision on the matter. This will be the subject of deliberation by the board and once the decision is made it will be communicated at the appropriate time,” Nganga said.

The Safaricom chairman further stated that the company’s board had put in place a robust recruitment process which will see the potential successor to the company appointed according to the highest performance standards.

“I am happy to report that the Board is encouraged by the quick recovery of Bob Collymore who remains firmly in charge and is doing a great ob of leading our company and delivering our purpose of Transforming Lives,” he added.