75 Percent of Telkom Kenya Employees to Lose Jobs in the Merger with Bharti Airtel

Close to 575 employees are set to lose their jobs in the new structure of the merged Telkom Kenya and Airtel companies.

Through a town hall and notice to all staff members, the merged entity will see only 225 staff members absorbed from the Telkom Kenya end while the remaining 575 will have to find employment elsewhere.

Telkom Kenya has 800 employees.

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With today’s town hall, the company has given an effective 30 days notice to staff members who will not be absorbed to see how they can best be compensated in the separation.

Part of the notice to staff read;

As a consequence of the Transaction, Telkom Kenya will discontinue the transferred business and must terminate the employees that are currently deployed to serve in these functions. Other employees who provide administrative and/or support services are also likely to be impacted.

In accordance with the provisions of Section 40 of the Employment Act, 2007, we have notified the Communications Workers Union (COWU), and sent out individualized letters to staff where applicable as well as to the County Labour offices, giving one-month’s notice with effect from July 31, 2019, of our intention to terminate the employment of approximately 575 of our employees, on account of redundancy, as a result of the Transaction.

There is anxiety in the company following the announcement.

With the new arrangement, Telkom Kenya’s key shareholder Helios will retain 40 percent, Kenyan Government 10 percent while Bharti Airtel will be the majority shareholder with 50 percent. The new entity will be called Airtel-Telkom.

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Bharti Airtel’s key shareholder Sunil Bharti Mittal flew to Kenya early this year to conclude the discussions of the merger.

Telkom Kenya transferred all its assets to Airtel in April 2019.

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