Safaricom Chief Executive Officer Bob Collymore was, on Monday, appointed to join a government's board for a cancer institute.
According to a Gazette notice dated May 6, 2019, Collymore was appointed alongside three other members including Citizen TV digital content manager, Mercy Oburu, to join the board of the National Cancer Institute.
They were selected by Health Cabinet Secretary Sicily Kariuki and are expected to serve in the capacity for three years commencing May 6.
"In exercise of the powers conferred by section 6 (2) of the Cancer Prevention and Control Act, 2012, the Cabinet Secretary for Health appoints David Makumi, Mercy Oburu, Bob Collymore and Evangeline Njiru to be members of the Board of the National Cancer Institute, for a period of three (3) years, with effect from the 6th May, 2019,” read the notice in part.
The National Cancer Institute is a corporate body that coordinates all cancer control activities in Kenya.
"The institute’s main mandate is to advise the Cabinet Secretary of Health on the overall priorities that should be accorded to cancer prevention and control in Kenya,” reads the institute's website.
In 2017, Collymore took a leave of nine months and went back to his native home in England to battle the disease.
In August 2018, the soft-spoken manager opened up about the time he was diagnosed with the disease and his treatment process.
“I went to London and they told me I had acute myeloid leukaemia- a rare kind of blood cancer that is curable. I was diagnosed with cancer. The doctors told me at the time that I had probably had it for about 6 months,” he narrated.
Oburu, on the other hand, is the Digital Content Manager at Royal Media Services and also serves as a board member at the Africa Cancer Foundation.
