Safaricom CEO Peter Ndegwa gives a speech in Ethiopia
Safaricom Plc staff decry the lack of response to their plight by their Chief Executive Officer.
The CEO Peter Ndegwa came into the firm as the hope against the old and calculating thieves led by Sylvia Mulinge and Sitoyo Lopokoiyit but it seems he has well been assimilated.
In the old days, the staff would have an occasional Question and Answer (Q&A) session with the CEO and it is said that both Michael Joseph and Bob Collymore were responsive.
Mr Ndegwa, as it turns out is not and it is a cause for worry among, not only staff, but customers at large.
There have been whispers of sabotage in the Telco but it seems Mr Ndegwa’s response to this is to bury his head in the sand like the proverbial ostrich (oops, Ndegwa is too short).
One of the most pressing issues at the company right now, is the lack of promotion or confirmation to permanent and pensionable basis for staff at the customer care department.
“Kuna staff Safaricom customer care wamekaa temporary/contact staff for more than 6 years bila confirmation... imagine msee uwezi pata loans za bank ujidevelop. Then to as an insult to the contracted guys this happen,” a person privy to the matter wrote.
Cnyakundi.com saw a screenshot of a message where a staff who has been affected asked the CEO about this in their Q&A session but Ndegwa never responded.
“This is a staff chat with the CEO. Though he never replies,” a source said.
The response under the forum are quite telling. The staff are taking him head-on. Reorganisation for what? Earlier in the year, Safaricom staff and clients were very excited about the reorganization that was done by the CEO.
In May 2021, Ndegwa appointed Lucille Aveva as the Director of Customer Obsession. It was seen as a way to push out the now lackluster Sylvia Mulinge who is the Chief Customer Officer that has run out of ideas and is busy stealing patents and utility models, straining the company’s legal department with defending the indefensible thefts in court.
However, it all appears to have been a PR gimmick aimed at hoodwinking the Nairobi Securities Exchange which actually responded well to the news.
‘Safaricom staff are suffering, especially those in the Customer Care department. You can even deduce this through the fall in service in that department. There are so many complaints unattended to,” said a analyst who spoke to nyakundireport.com.
The reforms that were being initiated by Peter Ndegwa have stagnated and it is disheartening and so sad. READ: Safaricom’s internal wrangles over tenders threaten to knock out the ‘outsider’ CEO Peter Ndegwa