The Raila Odinga factor in yuMobile exit

On a warm September morning last year, Madhur Taneja, Essar Telecom Kenya chief executive made a call to his Safaricom counterpart Bob Collymore. This was a call not out of its place; chief executive officers in any one industry talk to each other all the time, contrary to public perception that their business rivalry also spills over into personal matters.

However, this particular call was unique. Mr Taneja had two peculiar requests to Mr Collymore, according to sources privy to the discussions. The first; would Mr Collymore be interested in traveling to the Essar Headquarters in October 2013? “Why?” Mr Collymore responded.