MTN- Uganda on Tuesday took a decision to sack its powerful General Manager for Corporate Services, Mr. Anthony Katamba.
Having worked at the organization for almost two decades, Katamba at a time of his dismissal was perceived as one of the powerful officials.
Whereas details in relation to his sudden exit remain scanty, our sources at MTN towers said, Katamba had developed a fragile relationship with fellow administrators including the CEO Wim Vanhelleputte whom he recently threatened to deport.
“On learning his dismissal letter, Katamba vowed to fight and deport all expatriates at the facility,” a source said.
Sources say, he is the only local employee who was very close to MTN chairman Charles Mbiire.
However, he misused the opportunity and started treating all the workers very harshly irrespective of their race and position.
According to a whistleblower, an insider to Katamba’s department, every employee at MTN Uganda had become scared of Katamba, who was also chairman Charles Mbiire’s most trusted manager.
On Wednesday, this website learnt of anonymous letter authored by a whistleblower within the organization who described Katamba as “as a man we were all scared of.”
“From the position I hold, I have access to all that is going and I think it is time I highlight some of the issues. After I witnessed what my colleagues went through at the mercy of one man, we are all scared,” the whistleblower writes.
“He bragged in the corridors some weeks ago that he was going to get FOUR top executives in MTN Uganda deported because they ore playing with his power in the company and that he is the real CEO. He has done it and all the staff are now insecure and we are wondering whose orders we shall listen to now.”
Katamba was instrumental in the corruption cases in the company, the whistleblower further alleges.
“Ask all suppliers, he demands kickbacks before he approves your contract and this is done right in front of our eyes. He even gets payments from legal firms that we give work,” the whistle blower writes, adding that Justice Lawrence Gidudu’s ruling on December 10, 2015 clearly implicated Katamba and policeman Nixon Agasirwe of torturing a one Mr Sentongo (accused with Richard Mwami’s of embezzling billions of money from the company).
Agasirwe is a former commander of Police Special Operations who is charged with abducting Rwandans.
“This shows you that you are harbouring a criminal and MTN need to disassociate itself NOW from this sadistic criminal who has only been perusing his personal agenda in the company. He has with Nixon been compromising engineers in the company to erase call data records to protect criminal activities in the country,” the letter reads.
Additional reporting by Watchdog
