Bob Collymore, the CEO of Safaricom had to record a statement at the CID headquarters following allegations of unregistered SIM cards. The rumour of his arrest was all over and was actually held for a period of time. He was not the only CEO who had to do the “walk of shame” down to the station. Orange, Mickael Ghossein, was also doing the same at Kilimani police station and other CEOs were doing the same at different stations.

The CCK has put high pressure on the 4 CEOs of the mobile service providers in Kenya due to the Westgate massacre. It is suspected that the terrorists were able to plan and carry out the heinous act by communicating using unregistered SIM cards. Therefore, there are no means to trace the communication lines the terrorists used hence the need to reprimand the service providers.

The central issue is trying to pin part of the blame on the service providers. Unregistered SIM cards might have been used to initiate the attack, but that is just the tip of the iceberg. Unregistered SIM cards should have been deactivated, but this should not be set as a major contributor to the attack. There were several means of communication that were used and our Kenyan Intelligence needs to uncover more information on this.

It seems that the law is no longer making the crème de la crème of the society receive the softer side of the law. It was commendable of the CCK to get to the core of the issue which is apprehending those at the top of the food chain. Our leaders need to ensure that they are in control of their companies and get hands on experience.

If the CEOs would have probably taken it upon themselves to personally get down to the nitty-gritty they would have been saved the embarrassment. A more hands-on approach to their business will save them millions and legal issues. I think this should be a lesson to the majority that they are liable for their actions. To avoid being hoisted back into the police station the leaders at the top of the food chain need to be more alert and in touch with their organizations.

However, the CEOs had a stand on this issue after being grilled by the police. They came together and through the press, cited that there were no unregistered functioning SIM cards. They claim the police is seeking an excuse to divert attention from their faults and shortcomings. Well, one wonders why there is a blame game when there are significant terrorist threats facing our country?

Article source: https://www.zakenya.com/Communications/110-CEOs-take-on-unregistered-sim-cards.html