This archive report was first published on 4 July 2019.
On July 4, 2019, President Uhuru Kenyatta recounted his last phone call with the late Safaricom boss Bob Collymore, a conversation that left him with a lasting impression.
According to the President, Collymore called him at 2 O'clock in the morning from Canada, where he was on a trip, and said he had something urgent to discuss but could wait till he got back.
Collymore revealed that he had made a promise to the President that he could hang on for another year with the company but thought he was going to break that promise.
Uhuru asked Collymore why he wanted to break the promise, but Collymore replied, 'We will talk about it when you get back.'
When Uhuru returned, he called Collymore, who said, 'Oh, you are back?' and then told him, 'I'm going to break my promise.'
Collymore added that he had given up and thought his time had come, but he was more concerned about the future of the company.
Uhuru reminisced about their conversation, saying they spent three to four hours talking about nothing else, with Collymore asking about the future of Safaricom.
