Reports that former State House Chief of Staff Nzioka Waita has been appointed deputy CEO for Safaricom Ethiopia are false.
On 7th October, the Twitter profile Africa News Network reported that Nzoika, who had unsuccessfully contested for the Machakos County governor seat, had been appointed the deputy CEO of Safaricom Ethiopia.
Investigations by Business Today revealed that the report is fake. Mr Waita dismissed the report through his verified Twitter account, terming it a fake story. “These streets & fake stories … I’m busy minding my own business & looking after my cows & getting much needed rest! Any announcements on my future will come from me. So relax.”
The fake report came after Safaricom, on 6th October switched on its network in Ethiopia’s Capital City Addis Ababa, marking the official start of commercial operations in the country. Safaricom spent $300 million to set up key infrastructure in Ethiopia and has established 500 network sites and two data centres.
In February 2022 Waita stepped down as chief of staff at State House Kenya to run for governor of Machakos County. He, however, lost to Wavinya Ndeti in the August 2022 elections. Before he joined State House in 2015, Mr Waita was the director of corporate affairs at Kenyan telecoms giant Safaricom.
This fact check was published by Business Today with support from Code for Africa’s PesaCheck and African Fact-Checking Alliance.
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