Unauthorised brokers negotiated Safaricom deal, says Kenyan lawmaker

Kiharu Memeer of Parliament (MP) Ndindi Nyoro told the Kenyan Parliament on Monday that the opaque nature of the deal raises serious accountability concerns, warning that public assets could be exposed to private profiteering.

“I would request clarity from the government on the individuals who were involved in the negotiations,” Nyoro said.

“It is apparent that some of the people who participated in the negotiations ostensibly representing the people of Kenya are not public officers or servants and not officially contracted to act on behalf of the government.”

“The people who announced the deal from National Treasury in December knew about the transaction two days before.”

The Kiharu lawmaker did not however disclose the names of the individuals he claimed were ‘illegally’ part of the high-stakes negotiations. Treasury CS John Mbadi last week told MPs that the National Treasury engaged KCB Capital as transaction adviser to conduct an independent valuation of Safaricom shares.

“KCB should inform Kenyans whether there is any agent involved in the sale of Safaricom shares. What role are they playing? How was KCB even identified? Why not spread the transaction across all stockbrokers?” he posed.

“Can KCB clarify in writing if there is any stock agent involved in this transaction? If there is, who are they? Which role are they playing?”

The lawmaker was speaking on Tuesday after he appeared before the joint sitting of the Finance and National Planning and Public Debt and Privatization committees of the National Assembly.

The committee jointly chaired by Kuria Kimani and Shurie Abdi is engaging stakeholders in regards to partial divestiture of the government’s shareholding in Safaricom PLC. The government intends to offload up to 15 per cent of its 35 per cent controlling shares at the telco.

Already, the government has identified a South Africa-based company, Vodacom, as the strategic partner. Terming the transaction ‘inferior’ in its current form, Nyoro called for intense public participation to inform the best basis to get high returns from the critical asset.

“The proposed sale of 15 per cent of the Government of Kenya-owned Safaricom stake is a transaction that should be subjected to thorough participation and debate, given that it is the largest both in size and quantum that our country has handled since independence,” he said.

“A robust debate would guarantee the highest value for money.”

“The National Treasury and indeed the entire government must have the demeanor of a seller, get as many views from Kenyans, and adopt them instead of justifying an inferior transaction.”

Source: The Star