Gordian Kyomukama appointed MTN Uganda acting CEO

MTN Uganda’s Chief Technology Officer, Mr Gordian Kyomukama, has been appointed as the acting chief executive following the deportation of Mr Wim Vanhelleputte.

Mr Vanhelleputte, a Belgian national, was deported from Uganda on Thursday evening.

A letter signed by Internal Affairs Minister Gen Jeje Odongo said he would remain outside Uganda indefinitely.

CONCERN

In a statement issued on Friday morning, however, MTN said it had not been notified of the grounds for Mr Vanhelleputte's deportation and that it was working hard to establish the precise reasons.

“We are understandably concerned about these developments and are engaging the authorities to seek understanding that would lead us to resolving this matter," read part of the statement issued by MTN Group Corporate Affairs.

"To ensure business continuity, we have appointed Mr Gordian Kyomukama, currently Chief Technology Officer, as acting chief executive. Our focus continues to be on delivering the best quality products and services to our customers."

OTHERS AFFECTED

Mr Vanhelleputte’s deportation came days after the arrest and deportation of three other senior employees of the telecommunications giant.

These include the chief marketing officer Olivier Prentout, mobile money general manager Elsa Mussolini and Annie Tabura, who was the general manager for sales and distribution at MTN Uganda.

Ms Mussolini said she was ejected from the country for allegedly inciting violence by funding Robert Kyagulanyi alias Bobi Wine, the Kyadondo East MP and People Power architect.

There has, however, been an ongoing investigation against more MTN staff for allegedly compromising national security using their positions at the company.

THE PROBE

The staff members being looked into as part of a classified investigation have since recorded statements with the Special Investigations.

The investigations began in July 2018 after the Internal Security Organisation (ISO) raided their call centre in Mutundwe, a Kampala suburb and confiscated the company servers.

According to a source in Security circles, the government had received intelligence information relating to espionage, tax evasion and money laundering.

Collected data was analysed for about six months and a month ago, investigations officially began with the constitution of a team of personnel from the Uganda Police Force Criminal Investigations, the Internal Security Organisation (ISO), the External Security Organisation (ESO) and the Chieftaincy of Military Intelligence (CMI).

The team was placed under the supervision of Deputy Inspector General of Police (DIGP) Sabiiti Muzeeyi.