John Ngumi, the Safaricom board chairman, has resigned from the position after serving for barely six months at the largest telecommunications company in the East African region.

In a statement issued by Safaricom, a new board chairman to replace Ngumi is expected to be appointed and made public in the next few weeks.

Ngumi was appointed to the significant position at the telcos in July 2022 and he replaced Michael Joseph with effect from August 1, 2022.

Ngumi’s appointment added to that of Peter Ndegwa as CEO in April 2020, saw Kenyans hold the two top posts concurrently for the first time in Safaricom’s more than 20-year history.

John Mgumi, Peter Ndegwa and Dilip Pal.

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Ngumi, who was once the Kenya Pipeline Company (KPC) board chairman, has previously also worked on the boards of the Industrial and Commercial Development Corporation (ICDC) and Kenya Airways, and boasts of a 35-year career in the banking sector.

It remains unclear what pushed Ngumi out of the company evenas sources intimated to Swala Nyeti that boardroom differences were the reasons that made him to make the decision to exit marking his short stint. 

John Mgumi, Peter Ndegwa and Dilip Pal.

In its press release, Safaricom also announced that it had appointed top Kenyan lawyer Adil Arshed Khawaja as the telecommunication company’s non-executive director.