KAMPALA – The MTN Uganda CEO Mr Wim Vanhellpute on Thursday June 7, 2019 made a courtesy call to the regulator Uganda Communications Commission (UCC) upon returning to the country.
Without disclosing details of the closed door meeting, UCC Executive Director Godfery Mutabazi said it was a pleasure welcoming Mr. Vanhellpute back into the country.
“UCC appreciates the courtesy visit and the contribution MTN Uganda is making in the ICT Ecosystem and development of the sector,’ he said on twitter adding that “we look forward to continued strategic investments to this end”.
The MTN Uganda boss, a Belgian was deported early this year by the state in connection with compromising national security.
The deportation order was signed by Internal Affairs Minister Maj Gen Jeje Odongo.
President Museveni however agreed to the conditional return to Uganda Mr. Vanhellepute during a meeting with MTN Group CEO Rob Shuter, MTN Uganda Board Chairman Charles Mbire and acting Uganda CEO Gordian Kyomukama on the sidelines on the Africa Now Conference held at Munyonyo, Kampala.
Sources close to the discussions told this website that the MTN executives pleaded with Mr. Museveni on behalf of Vanhellepute, saying the latter was missing his Ugandan wife Barbra Adoso and their two children.
The MTN bosses also informed the President that Adoso is the daughter of former Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Works, Engineer George William Owaraga, who worked in the 1970s.
This is said to have concerned Mr Museveni who said he knew Engineer Owaraga at a personal level and that the latter had also served under the NRM government.
The meeting that sat at Munyonyo finally bore fruits State House confirmed that President Yoweri Museveni had finally allowed the company’s embattled boss back into the country.
In a tweet sent out by Senior Presidential Secretary, Don Wanyama, he wrote; “Following discussions with MTN Group top management, President Kaguta Museveni has exercised his executive discretion and allowed MTN CEO, Wim Vanhelleputte, back into the country. He is expected to resume his duties.”
Late last week, telecommunication giants, MTN Uganda confirmed the arrival of embattled Mr. Vanhelleputte who resumed his duties at the company after Mr. Museveni exercised his executive discretion and allowed him back into both the company and country.
MTN Uganda shares the country’s dramatic Mobile telephony transformation which started round about 1996, as part of the ICT policy reform process when the government liberalised the telecommunication sector and opened it for competition by licensing multiple players. The year before, in 1995, only 0.4% of households in Uganda had a telephone line