By Our Reporters
The woes bedeviling MTN Uganda (three of whose senior expatriate managers have been deported so far since Saturday) have seemingly excited Ugandans. And going by sentiments expressed on social media, Ugandans are unanimously saying MTN deserved the brutal crackdown the State security agencies have occasioned so far. It’s not difficult to see how angry Ugandans are about MTN. One just has to go to their own social media platforms including facebook and see Ugandans venting their anger. The grievances relate to a range of concerns including refusal to list on stock exchange, exploitation, cheating on MBs, poor service delivery and indifference to customer concerns. On Wednesday evening, MTN released a picture of their SA-based Group CEO Rob Shuter meeting President Museveni on the sidelines of the World Economic Forum meeting in Davos. In their responses commenting on the photo, Ugandans weren’t only indifferent but used the occasion to register their dissatisfaction with MTN service quality. One posting as Kaggwa Andrew Bamuyaaga accused MTN of using Ayo Insurance to cheat poor people and gave himself as an example. He even posted hospital papers and billing evidence to make his case. MTN owned up and promised to get back to him but others commenting doubted Kaggwa will ever get any remedy. Some argued IRA, which regulates provision of insurance services, is too feeble to do anything to MTN. Facebook icon Titus Seruga, riding on the current storm, has accused MTN Uganda of all sorts of things including impunity and occasionally unleashing their private security providers to terrorize innocent Ugandans. Many corroborated Kaggwa’s victimization by giving their own experiences on how MTN has perennially been cheating on data and internet bundles. Convinced MTN is too big for any ordinary soul to take on, Ugandans had given up until the latest storm started. They are now grateful to the President (including his renowned adversaries) for finally standing up to MTN. There are also concerns about poor network reception which GoU has since ordered MTN to address by investing $200m in network upgrade. Museveni, backed by his incorruptible AG William Byaruhanga, has insisted that MTN must list on the stock exchange market and sell to Ugandans 30% shareholding. They must also increase visibility of Ugandans in top management positions before grant of their 10 year license. There is also a dispute regarding the appropriate license fees MTN should pay with Museveni insisting on $100m as opposed to the mere $58m which they are offering. The Monday attempt to give out generous data/MB bonuses boomeranged and has since fermented more resentment towards MTN as many customers in the process even lost the little they had prior. Yet the MTN management has seemingly been found to be flat-footed on this issue because they are yet to marshal out a convincing explanation countering public anger resulting from the Monday data rip off.
MOST HATED TELCO?
Its possible MTN, which has over 60% of the market, is the most hated Telco in Uganda and in this briefing, we reflect on reasons causing public dissatisfaction and disaffection towards MTN. Firstly there is unhappiness MTN is reluctant to promote Ugandans to high management positions contrary to their own succession planning policy. Aggrieved insiders say the company generously invests in staff development and training yet many guys long qualified only to stagnate at their previous positions. One aggrieved insider accused MTN of preaching succession planning only to practice “succession muzzling.” Richard Mutesasira (was GM Risk management), Reggy Kafeero and David Paul Kavuma (aka DPK) were severally given as examples of well-trained guys that were sidelined the moment they became ripe to head the Marketing and Sales Division. Instead now deported Frenchman Alexander Benoit Prentout and Rwandan Annie Bilenge Tabura were brought in to head the generously funded docket. Many Ugandans working at MTN considered it was Kafeero’s time because he deputized Tabura’s predecessor. Richard Mwami, a pioneering manager for Mobile Money Financial Services, was widely believed to have potential to be promoted but instead now deported Italian expatriate Elsa Mussolini was given the job as Mwami was systematically targeted for destruction. Besides a young lawyer who used to be MTN fraud investigator, Isaac Nsereko had risen to the position of CMO but was controversially edged out at a time some thought he was nearing CEO. Aggrey Kagonyera, now working with Group Headquarters in South Africa, was also considered a potential CEO but was bypassed. A source said consensus among Ugandans still working in MTN is that after 20 years of operating, MTN should have nurtured local talent to for the first time become CEO just like other South African entities like Standard Chartered Bank and Stanbic have done. “It’s deliberate and it’s something that has fermented resentment inside here over the years and it’s part of the reason why some managers are actually happy with the current storm. They are vindicated because they have always been raising some of these things arguing that public satisfaction strengthens MTN scaring off government on a bad day. Guys have been arguing on matters to do with exploiting customers warning against MTN basing on media protection to ignore customer complaints,” says an insider. The source adds that desire not to answer hard questions partly explain why top management positions have always been preserved for foreigners to total exclusion of Ugandan managers. “They are pampered a lot not that they are more qualified or more productive; they are given good houses in Mbuya and Kololo on top of nice cars and international insurance cover which is angers many people inside MTN.” There is also Francis Kazinduki who had risen to the rank of CTO but was pushed out when he became defensive of Ugandan interests during top management meetings. Even in rare cases where Ugandans grow to the same rank with foreign expatriates, they are entitled to less benefits unlike foreigners who will have school fees paid for their children, a posh car, annually four return air tickets back home and international insurance. Aggrieved Ugandans have often cried to Board Chairman Charles Mbire who hasn’t been able to do much because being a minority shareholder (less than 5%), his views are always rejected in board meetings which sometimes seat at MTN Towers, Serena or even SA. Yet without Mbire there would perhaps be no MTN the way we know it today. “He is the one who has all the powerful connections you need to do business in Uganda and has been the emissary on so many things between MTN and State House. He can have very strong views but those South Africans can break him up in just a flash,” says a knowledgeable source. When CTO Francis Kazinduki was herded out, there was optimism that out of shame, the South Africans would elevate his deputy Paul Ikopit which never happened. There was optimism at some point that Aggrey Kagonyera, who had accumulated vast experience, would become Head Marketing which went to the French or become CFO which Mike Blackburn has menacingly occupied now for 10 years without break. The hiring of French-speaking Annie Bilenge Tabura intrigued many who felt Uganda being English-speaking, MTN should have prioritized English speakers.
UNFAIR COMPETITION
Service providers in the business community and telecom industry resent MTN for its unfair competition practices whereby all telecom and related business concerning South African entities in Uganda is ring-fenced for them. This is always a directive from back home in SA. Yet there are big companies with big cash operating in Kampala but domiciled in SA. They include Standard Chartered Bank, Stanbic Bank, Shoprite, Eskom and others. It’s only MTN that supplies telecom services to all these and these are big deals. Sources referred to a proposal a rival telecom firm once presented offering better and low cost services. And the manager for the South African entity who risked giving them business lost his job and was immediately recalled back to SA for rebuke. This is something that is hurting many people because even MTN when seeking service providers always gives priority to fellow S African entities including Stanbic where big money is kept.
NOT INVESTING HERE
Inadequately investing in Uganda is something our President has been very angry about. MTN is accused of milking Uganda economy without adequately investing in it. It’s intriguing to many that MTN hasn’t invested in any significant infrastructure project in the last 20 years. This compares badly with Airtel which at least has 2 office buildings. MTN has always rented including MTN towers which belongs to UDB Bank. The reason is managers are always under pressure to repatriate back home a lot of money every month to the extent there is no way a target-nervous CEO can ponder significantly investing here with such high monthly targets hovering over his head. Save for the BAT property recently acquired on Jinja Road, MTN only owns only two properties namely the Bugolobi and Mutundwe Switching Centers. In fact the acquisition of Bugolobi was imposed by circumstances as opposed to being planned. Back then UTL, from which MTN was renting the Bugolobi facility, had accumulated arrears in unpaid interconnection fees and the decision was taken to swap the debt for the Bugolobi property in which MTN was already operating.
MEDIA IMPUNITY
The other thing causing MTN to be hated especially by the public relates to its non-responsiveness to feedback from its customers. Ugandans have for instance continued complaining of poor service delivery including being duped to be paying for 3G network only to get something worse. Unlike Airtel whose 3G is real 3G, the experience has always been different for MTN users. This in fact explains why many aggrieved Ugandans massively crossed to Airtel the moment they brought 3G internet. The dilemma for the customers is that there are limited avenues through which to complain beyond just ranting on social media. The mainstream media has for long been captured by MTN because of its big advertising spend. Media houses have had to lose business deals for writing articles uncomfortable to MTN gurus. Consequently no single member of the public would have his anti-MTN complaint published in the mainstream media. This not only bred impunity at MTN but also shielded MTN from any media scrutiny and this created false confidence all was well. Yet in actual sense public anger has only been building only to begin escalating now with the latest arrests being the much awaited spark. Over time an impression was created no journalist would write discomforting articles about MTN without losing their job at major media establishments. Mwenda’s Independent Magazine has been the only exception. That media patronage over the years made MTN gurus to get used to getting away with it all the time.
KATAMBA’S EXPERIENCE
Whereas the rest of Ugandan employees agonized, Anthony Katamba (GM Corporate and Legal Services) was always perceived to be the blue eyed boy of the South Africans. And he was always their outspoken defender in top management meetings but sometime back they started marginalizing him too. They started by taking away some of his powers making him lose the legal obligations to concentrate on the corporate bit. There was so much resentment, some advised him to hang in there and refuse to hand over the legal docket to Carol Edroma fished from NIRA. There were also efforts to keep him in the dark regarding some of the major procurements but his mentor Mbire prevailed saying that wasn’t a good way you treat somebody who has served you so loyally. Yet in his hey days, Katamba was BoD secretary and was sometimes called upon to help grow up corporate practices in MTN Rwanda. There is another big man who used to head facilities department meaning he would be in charge of the offices and residential properties where MTN top executives reside but all this was recently deprived for one of the foreign expatriates to take charge. The Katamba mistreatment came after MTN Uganda was chosen to house the Group ICT hub catering for South & Eastern Africa market. This led to restructuring that saw many Ugandan employees become redundant and subsequently laid off. This is two years ago and only core engineering staff were retained as ZTE and WIPRO took over most of the IT work. People were asked to write asking for voluntary retirement and eventually ease out of MTN employment. Many complied and moved on but even the few who remained have continued to endure an uncertain future especially after ZTE global recently got problems with US authorities. There are also concerns of the tendering committee head being surrounded mostly by expatriate staff categorized as the Cs. All these grievances have combined to ignite a lot of hatred for MTN within the company and generally in the Ugandan population. (For feedback, reach us at mulengeranews@gmail.com)
