Sylvia officially took office on 4th October 2022 succeeding Wim Vanhelleputte.
Who is Ms Sylvia Mulinge?
Safaricom Killer director
Sylvia Mulinge worked at Safaricom for 15 years; her last title was Chief Customer Officer.
Despite her success in growing the departments of enterprise and fixed data at Safaricom, she was mired by accusations of stifling innovation.
Most innovators accuse her of being behind their woes.
Safaricom flouted procurement rules, took the entire proposal submitted by Transcend Media and gave it to Saracen Media Limited, a company associated with her. Saracen worked in association with Fieldstone Helms Limited. – Court document analysis by cnyakundi.com
‘Mulinge would listen to a concept, then with a brush of a hand say, ‘That can’t work’. But later the invention would have its name change and fronted as coming from Safaricom,’ one inventor said.
The evidence of the above allegations is there.
In the Safaricom Vs Transcend Media Group Limited. The Court documents shows emails where Ms Mulinge was at the center of stealing copyright. She ordered it, executed the theft and got away with it through what is alleged as bribery.
‘Sweep dirt under the carpet’
The taints in her career have denied her bigger roles elsewhere, at Safaricom and in Tanania.
In 2018, Tanzania authorities denied her a permit to work in the country.
She had been appointed the CEO of Vodacom Tanzania.
“Vodacom Tanzania can confirm that it has received notice from the Labour Commissioner declining a work permit application for Sylvia Mulinge as CEO of Vodacom Tanzania,” it said in a statement.
The drunk driving case is now a cold one despite the penalty for such being spending time behind bars.
The bribe-taking Kenyan Judiciary bungled the case and the family of young Mary Etale.
The accident happened along the Southern Bypass near Kibra and the Langata Police Station booked it but later many officers were transferred.
The Office of the Director of Public Prosecutions (ODPP) once mentioned the case coming up to court but that was immediately followed by a huge silence.
As she takes her role in Uganda, Mulinge was not a good person; we just hope that Ugandan inventors will not have their inventions ripped off from them without compensation.
To understand more, check this article warning Ethiopian youth against Safaricom.
READ: About Safaricom, a warning to Ethiopian Youths – Cyprian Is Nyakundi
Fugitive
Ms Mulinge’s conduct in the drunk driving case and her conduct in flouting intellectual property laws didn’t escape the eyes of the authorities.
However, there was a running thread in all of them. Justice hasn’t been done to the victims. Why?
Did Ms Mulinge bribe her way out?
In 2021, the National Assembly through a nominated MP Godfrrey Osotsi asked Kenya’s outgoing Interior Cabinet Secretary Dr. Fred Matinag’i to respond to four questions.
The ANC Party nominated MP, now Senator for Vihiga County, shot four questions at CS Matiang’i:
“Mr Speaker, I wish to ask question number 74 of 2022, to be responded to by the Cabinet Secretary of interior and Coordination of National Government, and it reads
Thank you, Mr Speaker,” Osotsi concluded.
In the drunk driving case, the office of the Director of Public Prosecutions went mum after sharing a Tweet that Ms Mulinge was to be charged. The progress of the case is currently unknown.
@SafaricomLtd's Sylvia Mulinge to appear in court on 20/11/17 to plead to charge of causing death by dangerous driving pic.twitter.com/czuvE2pX30
— Office of The Director Of Public Prosecutions (@ODPP_KE) November 13, 2017
Mulinge is simply a fugitive masquerading as an expatriate in Uganda.
Question is, have Ugandans accepted her?