It is Godfrey Osotsi as Nominated Member of the National Assembly (MP) that brought the issue of intellectual property theft by Safaricom to the floor of the house.
In a question and answer session on the floor of the National Assembly’s 6th session, then Nominated MP Godfrey Osotsi directed a question about Safaricom vs Transcend copyright infringement case to Interior CS Fred 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
- Could the Cabinet Secretary explain the status of investigations into a complaint raised by Ms Transcend Media Group against Ms Safaricom Limited for theft of copyright arising out of a tender floated by Safaricom Limited in 2016 for the provision of creative and digital services launched with the Directorate of Criminal Investigations (DCI) by inquiry number 14 of 2021?
- Could the Cabinet Secretary further explain why the DCI is unable to enforce its own summons against Safaricom Limited as contained in its letters dated 29th June 2021 and 15th July 2021?
- Could the Cabinet Secretary provide all the details filed with the police against Ms Safaricom Limited regarding theft of Copyrights, intellectual property rights and other complaints?
- What specific steps is the ministry taking to ensure large corporations in particular MS Safaricom comply with existing laws and ethical standards?
Thank you, Mr Speaker,” Osotsi concluded
Safaricom vs Transcend Media Group
Transcend Media Group had sent a proposal titled, Kenya Speaks Safaricom, Youth Assets Communication Strategy, Digital Tribe and Shangwe Sato along with the peculiar artistry, concept and modifications in a response to Safaricom’s Request for Proposal (RFP) for 2nd Agency for Safaricom ATL/BTL Creative and Digital Services on 25th January 2016.
Documents show that Safaricom later took the copyrighted documents, handed it over to Saracen Media Limited to implement.
Safaricom was looking for a company that would create and implement a communication strategy that touches on the youths.
Transcend Media was afterwards silenced.
Bob Collymore (Safaricom CEO, that time) having been caught off guard, it is the crooks around Sylvia Mulinge that advised the now panicky Vodafone conglomerate to file an injunction at Milimani Law courts.
Item 49, ‘The 1st Defendant (Safaricom Plc) and Vodafone Group Services Limited responded to the request for information and answers by filing a suit at the Milimani Commercial and Admiralty Division in HCCC No. 228 of 2016 seeking to gag the Plaintiff purportedly on grounds of publication of injurious falsehoods. An application for interim orders of injunction was dismissed in a ruling delivered on 4th October 2016’.
They lost, and Transcend was about to unleash, to the public, one of the biggest scandals in the history of corporate Kenya.
Safaricom moved with speed to quell the issue by agreeing to compensate Transcend for its intellectual property.
Vodafone Group Services was left with an egg on the face. Sylvia had lied to Vodafone that everything was gonna be alright and that they’ll handle the issue. But the manner of its handling went against the ethical business practice.
How Vodafone still kept Mulinge at the top of the firm is not a mystery. You’ve seen her work.
The continued infringement of intellectual property rights by Safaricom continues, the evidence aptly captured here and elsewhere.
The document was to be hidden but the truth on the infringement of intellectual property has come out, thanks to cnyakundi.com.
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Transcend Saga: Safaricom, Vodafone and how Sylvia Mulinge is Ms ‘fix-it’ in corrupt deals
