Safaricom shareholders will vote on July 31 on a proposal that would allow Vodafone Kenya, the local subsidiary of Vodacom, to formally nominate the company's chief executive officer. This follows Vodacom's completion of a $1.6 billion acquisition of a 15% stake from the Kenyan government on June 30, raising its total ownership from 39.9% to 55%. With this, Vodacom has become the majority shareholder in Safaricom, East Africa's most valuable telecommunications company and operator of M-Pesa, which has over 30 million active users in Kenya. The proposed amendment to Safaricom's articles of association would grant Vodafone Kenya the right to submit CEO nominees as long as it holds more than 50% of issued shares. A 75% shareholder majority is required for the resolution to pass.
The changes also require Safaricom's board to ensure a "mainly Kenyan character" in senior management and the executive committee, an effort to ease concerns about foreign influence over a company central to Kenya's economy. Under current governance rules, both Vodafone Kenya and the Kenyan government can appoint one director for every 10% of shares held. The government retains veto power over major brand changes and any expansion outside Kenya and Ethiopia. Current CEO Peter Ndegwa, who has led Safaricom since 2020, oversaw the company's entry into Ethiopia, one of its most ambitious and complex ventures. The amendment would not affect his position immediately, but would formalize Vodacom's influence over future leadership decisions.
Although Vodacom has held a large stake in Safaricom for years, the June 30 transaction marked the point at which it gained majority control. The upcoming vote seeks to align governance rules with this new ownership reality. The legal path to this point included a temporary court challenge in March, when Kenya's High Court paused the deal following a petition, though the transaction was later cleared.
Giving Vodacom the formal right to nominate Safaricom's CEO entrenches foreign control over a company that handles financial data for millions of Kenyans. The "mainly Kenyan character" clause appears symbolic when the power to choose the top executive rests with a South African-led entity. If leadership influence was already informally exercised before the vote, the July 31 decision merely legitimizes an existing power structure.
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