President William Ruto has dismissed criticism from Kiharu MP Ndindi Nyoro regarding the government’s plan to divest from Safaricom, calling the opposition’s stance political conmanship and intellectual deceit.
Speaking on Friday, January 23, President Ruto defended his administration’s approach to privatisation, emphasising that the strategy is aimed at transforming Kenya rather than serving political interests ahead of the next election.
“You’ll hear some people saying, ‘Why are you doing this? This is wrong.’ The same people who told us, ‘Let’s do it’. We are saying we are divesting a portion of Safaricom, they are telling us who negotiated? Where is the committee that negotiated for the price of the shares? Really? Any Public listed company, the tested, proven, transparent valuation is done by the Capital Markets at the Exchange, not in boardrooms or committees,” Ruto stated.
“I want to tell those people giving us lectures about what we’re doing with the IPO in KPC or Safaricom, they should spare us their political conmanship and intellectual deceit.”
The President was responding to concerns raised by MP Nyoro. The legislator argued that the country risks losing billions of shillings by bypassing a competitive international bidding process in the Safaricom share sale.
President Ruto outlined an ambitious plan to raise 5 trillion shillings, asserting that the funds will be mobilized by next year to finance development projects across the country.
“This is not about politics or the next elections, it’s about transforming Kenya. We have started the process of raising the money to do it. I said Sh5 trillion, and it will not delay. By next year, we will have raised all of it,” he noted.
The President explained that the government expects to raise 110 billion shillings from the Kenya Pipeline Initial Public Offering (IPO) within the next month, and an additional 240 billion shillings from the Safaricom divestiture.
Combined, these transactions would generate approximately 350 billion shillings, which the government plans to leverage to secure between 3.5 and 4 trillion shillings for infrastructure and development projects.
The President criticised those questioning the valuation process for the Safaricom shares, stating that Public listed companies are valued transparently through capital markets and stock exchanges, not through backroom negotiations or committees.
“Any Public listed company, the tested, proven, transparent valuation is done by the capital markets. It’s done at the exchange. It’s not done in boardrooms or by committees,” Ruto stated.
MP Nyoro had earlier noted that each of the 6 billion Safaricom shares being sold to Vodafone should be priced at 45 shillings per share rather than the proposed 34 shillings.
“We should not be discussing anything below Sh45 per share, but we have been held hostage by the buyer that we are now running out of breath,” Nyoro argued.
The Kiharu legislator also raised concerns about an alleged 80-billion-shilling loss initiated by the Communications Authority through a controversial waiver on license renewal, claiming that 40 billion shillings was lost on a single license due to discounts approved by management before the board convened.
Nyoro further alleged that private entities stand to benefit from the multibillion-shilling transactional costs associated with the Safaricom divestiture.
