When Michael Joseph was at Safaricom Plc, (the first time between 2000 and 2010) as the first CEO of the firm, his nickname was ‘Mr 10 Percent”, because of the greed and asking for bribes, a 10 percent of the cost of all the tenders that the firm gave.
Well, Michael is now the Chairman of the Board of the forever struggling national carrier Kenya Airways (KQ) and his lackluster style of leadership has not left him. He continues to run down the firm while being ever present asker of 10 per cent.
KQ is full of cartels, they siphon money from the company without mercy.
Last year, in March, a document leaked online showing 21 KQ managers earning a whopping Sh1.3billion annually. KQ, that time distanced itself from the document terming it fake,
The document had placed Michael Joseph’s board chair fee at Sh3million, the highest for a board member in Kenya. Way high because his predecessor at KQ is said to have earned Sh300,000.
Michael Joseph was busted, he had hiked the high pay from Sh1.5million to Sh3million. He earned the illegal pay, a cool Sh12.6million for quite some time.
He returned the money after being busted.
Staff that tried to alert the media were intimidated but cnyakundi.com with its deep networks has the receipts.
“Hi Nyakundi, KQ got refunded this amount of cash by Michael joseph after he illegally hiked his monthly fee from 1.5m to 3m. KQ staff tried to Alert media but they were intimidated with a lawsuit”, an anonymous tip came through.
Strange character
Vodafone, the parent company of Safaricom was always afraid about its image being dented by its rogue CEO Joseph and a Safaricom audit done by KPMG revealed just that.
The Audit report exposed a number of weaknesses not expected in a blue-chip like Safaricom. For instance single sourcing, corrupt ad-hoc committees, conflict of interest and a number of shell companies that were (Still are) being used to siphon billions from the Telco.
During his stint as Safaricom CEO, Michael Joseph’s word became the Law and the curse of single-sourcing, and Mr. 10% adopted the corporate graft. To say the least, Bob Collymore inherited a rotten system, but his big blunder was to keep using the corrupt system without cracking the whip, Making him complicit in all ways.
Even as MJ, as Michael is fondly known among complicit corporate cartels, returned to Safaricom following the death of Collymore, it was just a stop-gap measure wrought with fears.
From KPMG report, the curious case of CELFOCUS stands out like a sore thumb, a debacle going back a decade to 2007 during the reign of Micheal Joseph.
KQ is a cash cow
At Kenya Airways, there’s not much this incompetent guy can do to salvage the billion-shillings’ mess.
The government of the day likes appointing people with questionable characters so as to easily control them. Michael Joseph is one.
The struggling KQ has been on a loss-making streak for quite a while.
The airline made Sh4billion (2017) and Sh5.6billion (2018) and Sh13billion loss in 2019.
However, while KQ makes losses, the top management smile all the way to the bank. In March 2019, as earlier stated, a document leaked online that showed the exorbitant perks KQ’s top managers were making.
Former CEO Sebastian Mkosz (aka Mikosi), a perennial failure, took home Sh8million a month.
KQ pays 21 managers a whooping Ksh. 1.3 Billion a year.
That document exposed Michael Joseph as a top-earning board member in the entire Kenya at Sh3million.
KQ had distanced itself from the document but with this new evidence, the truth has come to light.
Joseph is also accused of hiring his mistress a Ms. Catherine Kamau, without following the KQ’s Human Resource process and paying her Ksh. 1.3 Million a month.
