By John Mutiso
Treasury Cabinet Secretary John Mbadi has slammed former Deputy President Rigathi Gachagua over claims that there is no public participation in the planned sale of the government’s 15 percent shares at Safaricom PLC.
Speaking on Monday, December 8, Mbadi said the National Assembly has already invited public participation for Kenyans to submit their views.
The Treasury CS noted that the government has only developed a proposal, which now requires the public to submit their views.
“We have just done what we call proposal instigation; now Kenyans need to speak. This is what we call public participation, and they will speak through parliament, and the National Assembly has already advertised.
“I heard senior leaders yesterday saying that there is no public participation. What do you mean there is no public participation, and there is already public participation taking place as we speak,” said Mbadi.
Speaking on Sunday, Gachagua alleged that the government has not done public participation in the planned sale of 15 percent of the stake at Safaricom.
“Safaricom is being sold without public participation, and when you look at it simply, it’s like having a cow in your home that produces a lot of milk. Now you decide to sell that cow, yet you don’t have another one, just so you can buy food for that day,” Gachagua claimed.
The former Deputy President also said the government is underselling its shares at Safaricom, noting that the value of the shares should be between Ksh70 and Ksh80.
“Safaricom has been one of the greatest revenue generators for our country, about Ksh18 to Ksh 20 billion every year. Now one share has been sold at Ksh34, whereas its real value is between Ksh70 and Ksh80. The country is losing about Ksh250 billion,” added the DCP leader.
Safaricom on Thursday, December 4, announced that it has received a notice of intention by Vodafone Kenya to acquire an additional 6,009,814,200 ordinary shares representing 15 percent from the Kenyan government.
The company noted that the Kenyan government will sell the shares at a cost of Ksh34.00 per share, totalling to Ksh204.3 billion ($1.6 billion).
The government will also receive an upfront payment of Ksh40.2 billion in lieu of future dividends, valuing the transaction at Ksh244.5 billion.
