Moi family offers Museveni Safaricom shares to dislodge crisis-ridden MTN Uganda market – Weekly Citizen

Uganda President Museveni and Retired President Moi

The meeting between retired president Daniel Moi and Ugandan president Yoweri Museveni had more to do with Baringo senator Gideon Moi’s ambition to rule Kenya and the family’s business interests in the neighbouring country.
Two weeks ago, Museveni while on an official visit to Kenya met the retired president at Nairobi Hospital though there were contradictions over the venue after Gideon tweeted they met at Kabarnet Gardens.
“Today, Ugandan President, HE Yoweri Museveni paid a courtesy call on retired president, Mzee (Daniel arap Moi) at his Kabarnet Gardens home,” Gideon tweeted before pulling down the post.
The different venues of the meeting had prompted concerns on the retired president’s health and whether he was admitted in hospital.
That aside, Museveni met Moi after hosting William Ruto in Uganda several times.
Those who accompanied Ruto to Uganda include East African and Regional Development cabinet secretary Adan Mohamed, governors John Lonyangapuo of West Pokot, Sospeter Ojaamong, Busia, Josephat Nanok, Turkana, MPs Ndindi Nyoro, Kiharu and Robert Pukose, Endebess and principal secretary Chris Kiptoo.
Also present were Ugandan ministers David Bahati (finance) and Amelia Kyambadde (trade and cooperatives).
Insiders say the Moi family is keen to neutralise Museveni-Ruto friendship and that is why Gideon prevailed upon Uhuru to ensure the Ugandan leader visited Moi.
But only one photo was shared on the meeting and it showed Museveni and Gideon conversing with Moi who spotted a sticker on the back of his left palm indicating that he had just come from a drip.
The meeting came a few days after Museveni deported the Belgian CEO of the Ugandan branch of MTN ostensibly on security grounds, in the fourth such expulsion targeting the South African telecoms giant within a month.
Ugandan police spokesman Fred Enanga was quoted saying MTN’s Wim Vanhelleputte had been deported on reasons of “national security”.
MTN operates in 22 African countries and Vanhelleputte had served as CEO of its Uganda branch since July 2016.
Earlier, Kampala had expelled three other foreign nationals serving as senior executives at MTN, accusing them of using their positions to “compromise national security”.
They were accused of aiding Rwanda to infiltrate and intercept Uganda’s communication lines.
Days after the first three managers were expelled, Museveni met Rob Shuter, MTN’s chief executive, on the sidelines of the World Economic Forum in Davos where the pair discussed the Ugandan telecoms market.
Following the meeting, Museveni accused MTN of underdeclaring call volumes to avoid tax.
He demanded shares in the company to be floated on the Ugandan stock exchange or transferred to the national social security fund “to allow for local ownership”.
MTN Uganda’s 20-year licence expired in 2018 and it is currently operating under an interim licence.
In July 2018, the company said armed men claiming to be from Uganda’s Internal Security Organisation “kidnapped” two of its contractors and forced them to open up the company’s main data centre, where they made an unsuccessful attempt to access servers.
At the time, MTN denounced the incident as “criminal” and reported it to the authorities but said it had no reason to believe it was under investigation.
Sources say Museveni is looking for a strategic communication firm to invest in Uganda to take the space to be left by MTN, where his family will be allocated shares.
The Ugandan head of state is not opposed to Kenya’s Safaricom entering into the market.
For decades, Safaricom has been trying to penetrate Ugandan market, but the going has been rough from deliberately set up hurdles by UG. To send money by Mpesa to or from Uganda one pays nearly half of the money to be send.
According to sources, part of the discussions between the Mois and Museveni was how to enable Safaricom to penetrate the Ugandan market.
The Moi family, through an offshore company called Mobitelea, is a major shareholder in Safaricom.
In 1999, with Moi at the helm, the government allowed Vodafone Kenya to buy a 40pc share in the state-controlled Telecoms operator, Safaricom, for Sh4.35 billion. Moi then barred any other player entering the market so as to give Safaricom monopoly.
Mobitelea which worked under anonymity amongst other responsibilities hitherto gave Vodafone “advice and assistance” on securing the investment, it later emerged.
In 2001 Vodafone granted Mobitelea share options in Vodafone Kenya at 1999 prices, enabling it to buy a stake in Safaricom.
These options eventually yielded Mobitelea a profit of about $51m in 2009, a reflection of Safaricom’s success.
It was not until six years later when the Kenyan government floated some of its Safaricom holding, and was required to list all current shareholders that Mobitelea’s involvement came to the fore.
When they eventually disposed some of their two billion shares in Safaricom, the shadowy individuals had made a staggering Sh6 billion.
Insiders say the Kenyatta family will also reap big once Safaricom makes a footprint in Uganda.
The Kenyatta family owned Commercial Bank of Africa, which is set to merge with NIC to create the third largest bank in the country, jointly with Safaricom runs the loan product, M-Shwari and Fuliza.
The virtual banking platform has registered over 18 million customers in Kenya and once rolled out in Uganda the Kenyatta family is assured of minting billions of shillings.
The M-Shwari service, run by the telecoms giant and the privately held lender under the mobile money platform MPesa, was rolled out five years ago as a credit facility for those who have been locked out of the loans market for lack of collateral and credit history.
It was positioned as a pioneer financial service that promotes a culture of saving among ordinary Kenyans and allows those with no collateral to access loans through their mobile phones.