Brilliant veteran journalist Simon Kasyate recently got renewal of his three year contract to continue serving as Manager Corporate Affairs at Uganda Electricity Generation Company Ltd (UEGCL). But that hasn’t stopped insiders at UEGCL from continuing to consider the relationship between him and his CEO Eng Harrison Mutikanga one that is delicate and complicated.
Sources familiar with the corporate feud between the two have revealed to Mulengera News that (whereas Kasyate’s docket is an office under the CEO’s larger office) the two gradually developed sharp differences after Kasyate’s eloquence and flamboyant public appearances created discomfort among the CEO’s strong supporters at UEGCL.
“Kasyate made it worse insisting to appear too cleaver than even his boss. It’s a delegated responsibility meaning you must toe the line and always read your MD’s mind before you write or communicate out anything about the organization. Kasyate wasn’t prepared for such politeness and this made the CEO uncomfortable and the conclusion was Kasyate was increasingly becoming hard to supervise,” says a knowledgeable source adding that Kasyate’s decision to apply for the UTB Deputy MD job was all in a bid to get away from the hell of sorts that Mutikanga’s supporters had created for him at UEGCL.
Prior to the UTB slot, Kasyate had also been in the running for the position of Director Communications at Parliament which eventually went to more prolific Chris Obore. “Many of you people outside there think it’s Kasyate’s attempt to get a job elsewhere that irked CEO Mutikanga which isn’t true. The truth is failure to work well with him as CEO is what kept pushing Kasyate to try his hand elsewhere. The truth is that boy is very brilliant but his problem is wanting to rant and talk too much. This is something some CEOs won’t allow. You might be right and more connected to State House and the President than him but he remains your MD and even State House prefers people who are polite and down to earth,” an influential UEGCL Board member told Mulengera News.
It was further revealed that if Mutikanga (who heads top management that hires managers like Kasyate) had his own way (without fearing reprisals from Kasyate’s powerful backers), the talkative scribe from Rukungiri would most likely not have had his contract renewed prolonging his stay at Kamwokya-based UEGCL. “He [Kasyate] is back and that doesn’t mean that bad blood between him and CEO is all gone. It’s going to remain work in progress because his earlier conduct created plenty of mistrust between them,” says a Board member who at some point was involved in subtle efforts aimed at encouraging Mutikanga to tolerate Kasyate’s complex ways.
It’s further revealed that on learning Kasyate had applied for the UTB post (which was even going to be higher than UEGCL’s), Mutikanga hit the roof. He summoned Kasyate and showed displeasure. Kasyate made things even more complicated by not being polite and remorseful in his response. He told Mutikanga “how do you think I would have grown to the level of being able to join UEGCL if I hadn’t been moving from my past jobs?” This, sources say, made Mutikanga feel even more disrespected and thereby making their relationship even more complicated.
From being a lowly-paid journalist at Daily Monitor and generally NMG, highly-connected Kasyate moved to the corporate world by joining Eskom from where he joined UEGCL. His mentors in the corporate world include Andrew Mwenda, Conrad Nkutu and others. Though Mutikanga won’t easily let go, there is optimism among Board members that the uneaseness between them will gradually subside for the betterment of the organization whose values they both tremendously cherish. (For comments, call, text or whatsapp us on 0703164755 or email us at mulengera2040@gmail.com).
