Joram, Your intuition is right, there are heavily vested interests, though I believe not in the sense that Econet is coming in late but in the sense that Econet is coming in now. It is apparent that there may be multiple vested and opposing interests gunning for control of the licence, whether true or not, it can be concluded that where there is smoke the likelihood of finding a fire is high: === SPECIAL REPORT | Page 9 SUNDAY STANDARD MARCH 19 2006 No end in sight to Econet intrigues "In April last year, our officers investigating the case were told to stop with immediate effect." says a senior Kacc official. Kacc spokesman Nicholas Simani however declined to comment on the matter." ==== There is a plethora of hundreds perhaps thousands of pages of documents (some attached) on these matters available from courts in Nairobi, London, Lagos, Papua New Guinea, Botswana and Johannesburg including affidavits by the foreign entity's executives that tell a shockingly different story from the often one sided pompous story told in the media. KNFC has a valid case, Econet too had to raise money (there is evidence supporting how this was done and why Econet took their former top level executive (also after he refused to co-operate in disenfranchising KNFC) to court in Johannesburg in a bid to gag him from spilling the beans, beans which a VP of the telecom vendor at the center of the unorthodox financing arrangement feared would rile Vodafone/Safaricom, Celtel, MTN etc). Why would anyone touch KNFC with a long pole when there are vested interests intent on derailing KNFC at every turn and corner while a PR machine touts the other party as the credible and righteous party with stories of "success and triumph" in other countries citing billions of profits in Zimbabwean dollars Z$ ambigiously as touted as $ "US dollars" yet it is no secret that Zimbabwe is a nation of poor millionaires where the average price of a home starts in the billions http://www.fingaz.co.zw/fingaz/2005/February/February24/7816.shtml If you were a financier who would you work with? The hapless KNFC you read about in the press or the over "glorified" entity (minus its unknown mishaps) that you read about in the press? Even then according to the attached advertisement that was published in the Nation on April 12 2004 by KNFC's lead financier, the regulator is said to have refused to accept the replacement bid bond from KNFC and further to that KNFC's financier confirms in the ad as having raised the requisite licence fee but the regulator was not willing to issue the licence to them. The Econet PR machine that has its team of dedicated journalists in various newsrooms went to work to tout KNFC as having no funds or in the alternate of having failed to raise funds for the licence. Those in doubt do not need to look very far, the Co-operative bank is one such example of success from the co-operative sector. As always the PR machinery works overtime to paint KNFC as the impoverished villians and Econet as the righteous party with money overflowing from its pockets. Unfortunately the truth should be told, contrary to what the Kenyan media reports, Econet has not won any of its huge and highly publicized endlessly filed legal battles. Where it was not likely to win it settled. Econet Wireless Nigeria is no more, it is now Celtel and NOT because Econet sold it to Celtel but because the Nigerian shareholders choose to do so. Econet simply got a taste of its own medicine when it was bundled out of Econet Wireless Nigeria and when it seemed Econet could retain its 5% shareholding + more, it was unable to match Celtel's superior offer for the shares at stake. As Business Day in South Africa and other Nigerian media reported on and around 30 June 2006 regarding the saga (contrary to Kenyan media reports indicating the opposite). Thus there is no West African battle that Econet has won except through its disinformation campaign: ---------------- http://mybroadband.co.za/nephp/?m=show&id=3368 ECONET's battle for control of Nigeria's cellular network, V Mobile, has been massively undermined by a court verdict damning Econet for misleading a judge and failing to admit it was $90m short of the cash needed to buy the business. The Nigerian court will be presented with the UK verdict showing that Econet had withheld evidence and failed to raise the cash. Econet CEO Strive Masiyiwa claimed to have raised $1,5bn to buy V-Mobile entirely, but accused the Nigerians of refusing to hand over the documents to conclude the deal. The court found that was not true. When Econet sought an order to block V-Mobile's sale to Celtel, it told the court it had more than enough funds to make the payment. "That was not the true position," Judge Morison said in his ruling. "There was serious nondisclosure or misrepresentation of the true position as to Econet's access to funds." The court was "seriously misled by evidence as to Econet's access to funds," Morison said. He ended the injunction so Celtel could buy V Mobile as Econet lacked cash. Celtel CEO Marten Pieters said the ruling confirmed Celtel's purchase of V- Mobile was a professional and transparent process. ------------------ http://www.pacificmagazine.net/issue/2005/02/01/business-briefs The Papua New Guinea government has terminated the proposed sale of 51 percent of Telikom (PNG) Ltd to African telecommunications giant Econet Wireless Group. Bowing to criticism in Parliament and public outcry, Prime Minister Sir Michael Somare announced the PNG Cabinet's decision and said the sale process would be looked at again this year. "Given the debate from various sectors of the community and the parliamentary resolution not to proceed with the sale under its current structure, the Cabinet has decided the most logical step is to cancel current attempts to sell this important State asset," Sir Michael said. ------------------- Anywhere Econet goes, there are problems, the modus operandi is the same, when they are exposed turn around and sue Governments and their partners for the favored value of $1bn or issue legal threats only later to settle after having succeeded in intimidating the intended victims to agree to their demands or in the event they loose, their PR machine goes to work touting their "victory" or the fact that the matter is far from over. It is a pity that the Kenyan media is far from professionally telling the truth that is already in the public domain in such enormous and overwhelming terms. On 7/25/07, Joram Mwinamo <joram.mwinamo@gmail.com > wrote:
I also have a feeling there could be vested interests in Econet not coming in as the 4th mobile operator in this country as competition will seriously harm the mega profits being made right now. Im not saying anything but for people who couldnt raise the money,i dont see why their case was being heard even when econet offered to put up the capital. There is definitely more than meets the eye here and I dont see why things go in favour of the Cooperative that doesnt have cash.We want competition so that i can call at 2 bob a minute
However econet has had a few victories to similar battles in west africa where they were clearly the underdogs,im holding my breath
On 7/25/07, David Kiania | Asentric Consulting Ltd < kianiadee@gmail.com> wrote:
Herein lies poignant lessons for anyone looking to partner for whatever reason. First avoid Farmers and amorphous bodies their interests are as diverse as their membership. KNFC nees to tell us since EWK will be settling the legal costs of the suits that they have terminated, what % of the legal bills will they foot. Secondly can they or can't they raise
their portion of license fee which was a point of contention ab initial.
From what I gather, they are broke and are not in a position to so of the US$ 27m license fee, Econet International has already paid $12M being the majority shareholder can KNFC raise $15M or are they seeking to auction their shareholding and have and pocket the surplus. Me thinks they want to cash out and pocket something.
Last but not least, the outcome will also be influenced by their shareholders' agreement on liquidation and ownership transfer. Herein lies the other lesson, during incorporation get a good lawyer, not a pal because they will cost you nothing. From my experience get a lawyer (in their personal capacity) with one of the big firms (K&S, HHM, etc) they have great incorporation templates and are thorough not to mention they know how to get things done right.
I have a feeling that EW Kenya may carry the day, after all the govt needs to fund the Kshs 400 billion budget deficit and are in not position to refund the $12M already paid, it's an election year :) Watch what happens carefully .
Kiania D.
Mike Theuri wrote:
It's a new twist for Econet Wireless as it prepares to roll out its services Written By:Emmanuel Toili , Posted: Tue, Jul 24, 2007
It's a new twist for the third mobile service provider Econet Wireless
International after the Kenya National Federation of Co-operatives limited- KNFC threatened to take a court injunction to stop the rolling out of the mobile services.
Interim Chairman Stanley Muchiri said the Federation had neither withdrawn two court cases that prevented Econet Wireless International from providing the mobile services.
The government and Econet Wireless International had last week signed a settlement agreement and agreed to settle the contentious issues out of court.
KNFC who are allegedly the majority shareholders of Econet Wireless Consortium, want the Communications Commission of Kenya - CCK, to issue them a license as a partner.
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