Employees and field agents engaged in the rollout of Savanna Fibre (Kenya) Limited have painted a sharply different picture from the company's fast growing public profile, with multiple workers claiming that behind the internet provider's aggressive expansion across Nairobi and heavily marketed low cost high speed fibre packages lies a pattern of delayed payments, shifting remuneration terms, uncertainty over contractual arrangements and mounting financial hardship among personnel tasked with driving customer acquisition and network growth.
Savanna Fibre has rapidly established itself as one of Nairobi's most competitively priced internet service providers, attracting households through unlimited fibre packages, free installation, complimentary routers and ambitious expansion into neighbourhoods such as Kilimani, Kileleshwa, Langata, Lavington, Westlands and Parklands, positioning itself as a disruptive player in Kenya's broadband market as competition within the sector intensifies.
This news outlet has received detailed narrations from multiple workers who claim the company increasingly relied on third party partners to recruit sales personnel from the beginning of the year, with the sources claiming the arrangement resulted in uncertainty over who bore responsibility for salary payments, leaving many agents caught between the company and external recruitment partners as each side allegedly directed payment inquiries elsewhere while workers continued delivering sales targets.
The workers claim the uncertainty surrounding remuneration contributed to severe financial strain among some personnel, with several allegedly leaving the programme after months of frustration while others are said to have accumulated rent arrears and other financial obligations after expected earnings failed to materialize within the timelines communicated during recruitment.
Further grievances have emerged from workers recruited into the company's apartment acquisition programme, a unit tasked with securing agreements from landlords and property managers to facilitate fibre infrastructure installation within residential developments before customer connections could begin, with the workers claiming they accepted the roles after being presented with a remuneration structure consisting of per unit payments together with weekly facilitation and operational support that they say never materialized as initially communicated.
According to the workers, the terms governing payment were repeatedly revised after recruitment, with timelines changing several times over the course of their engagement before new performance conditions were introduced linking earnings to subsequent customer acquisitions after infrastructure approvals had already been secured, a development the workers claim fundamentally altered the basis upon which they had accepted the assignments.
The sources further claim that workers who questioned payment delays or sought clarification over the changing remuneration structure were removed from internal communication groups, leaving many without clear channels through which to pursue outstanding dues or obtain explanations regarding the status of their engagements.
The workers also question the company's mode of payment, claiming remuneration was made through M-Pesa rather than conventional payroll systems, with some expressing the view that the arrangement complicated record keeping and accountability for engagements involving large numbers of field personnel, while maintaining that several third party partners are still waiting to receive funds they say are required before outstanding payments can be passed on to sales agents.
"Hello Cyprian. I have a complaint about Savannah Fibre Limited. It is a complaint about payments and their mode of conduct. This is a registered company that has invested in Kenya and employs Kenyan youth. First of all, from January they began hiring sales people solely through third parties, that is, outside partners. The company only exerted pressure on sales people to deliver results, but when it came to payments, sales agents were usually referred to the outside partners to make inquiries. Some of our colleagues left due to frustration, while some people, as we speak, were chased from their houses because of rent arrears, and up to now nothing has been paid by the so called partners working with Savannah Fibre. In April, the company hired acquisition agents to operate as apartment acquisition agents who were mandated to meet house owners or agents and sign contracts so the company could construct and install fibre cables in their apartments, allowing clients from those apartments to be connected. This department was headed by one Teresia Akinyi. While hiring, they told us we were going to be paid Ksh 50 per unit in an apartment, meaning if an apartment had 100 rooms, you would get Ksh 50 per unit. We were also supposed to receive Ksh 2,500 weekly as facilitation and Ksh 500 airtime credits. We worked tirelessly for the first three weeks without any facilitation or any communication from them. They then began giving promises after promises. As time went by, they began removing anyone who complained from the group. Later, after two months on the job, they started changing the goalposts, saying we would be paid in the third month. Later on, they said that after acquisition, you also had to make sales in those apartments before you could be paid. We ended up receiving salaries as low as Ksh 800 after waiting for two months. Another fishy thing is that this company pays through M-Pesa, seemingly to avoid leaving traces of hiring enormous numbers of people and to hide the rot that is going on. This company needs to be called out and its activities exposed. As we speak, some outside partners are yet to pay their sales agents, citing non payment from the company."
