Car-hailing service Careem Egypt's Wael Fakharany has said he was sacked from his job as head of operations “in a humiliating way” one day after the UAE-based service announced Fakharany's departure and the appointment of a new chief operating officer. “I did not resign from Careem; I was fired from the company in a surprising and shameful way. God knows how much effort I put into [the job]. I am devastated,” Fakharany wrote Monday on his Twitter account, refuting news that he had resigned from the post voluntarily. The company's managing director in Egypt and senior vice president for government relations, Fakharany is also the former manager for Google in Egypt and the MENA region. Fakharany assumed the position at Careem only six months ago. The statements were Fakharany's first in the strife, with Careem issuing a statement yesterday announcing his departure. “There are times when a great mind in a great role at a great business does not necessarily make a great fit, and as such, effective 1 March, Rami Kato has assumed the position of Managing Director of Careem Egypt. With our new management at the helm, we are excited about our future in Egypt,” Careem's CEO and Founder Mudassir Sheikha said in press statements. Kato was previously serving as the company's vice president of customer service. The new head will be responsible for managing all Careem operations in Egypt including its expansion plans in the local market, government relations and day-to-day business operations. Dubai-based Careem has been booming in Egypt, with thousands of cars providing service in the streets of Cairo and Alexandria. The company has promised to expand and grow, in competition with rivals San Francisco based Uber. Drivers of Egypt's traditional taxis held several protests in 2016 to demand that the government ban services like Uber, saying that private ride-hailing services negatively affected their livelihood and do not comply with Egyptian public transportation laws. Under the current transportation laws, drivers carrying passengers for pay should be licensed as taxi drivers, which many Uber and Careem drivers are not. Egypt has said it aims to fully legalise the car hailing apps in the near future.
