{"id":129065,"date":"2026-01-20T14:02:56","date_gmt":"2026-01-20T14:02:56","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/chezaspin.com\/blog\/nyoro-safaricom-stake-sale-could-cost-kenya-sh150bn\/"},"modified":"2026-01-20T14:02:56","modified_gmt":"2026-01-20T14:02:56","slug":"nyoro-safaricom-stake-sale-could-cost-kenya-sh150bn","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/chezaspin.com\/blog\/nyoro-safaricom-stake-sale-could-cost-kenya-sh150bn\/","title":{"rendered":"Nyoro: Safaricom stake sale could cost Kenya Sh150bn"},"content":{"rendered":"

NAIROBI, Kenya, Jan 20 \u2014 Kiharu MP Ndindi Nyoro has sharply opposed the Treasury\u2019s plan to divest a 15 per cent stake in Safaricom PLC to Vodafone Kenya, warning that the restricted sale structure could cost taxpayers an estimated Ksh 150 billion.<\/strong><\/p>\n

In a submission to the Departmental Committee on Finance and National Planning on Tuesday, Nyoro argued that limiting the transaction to a single strategic partner grossly undervalues the asset and denies the state the benefits of competitive price discovery.<\/p>\n

He said subjecting the deal to international competitive bidding would reveal the true market price and maximise returns to the Consolidated Fund.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhy can\u2019t we be patient for two months and get a higher price?\u201d Nyoro asked the committee. \u201cIf Kenya gets an additional Sh150 billion, everyone benefits.\u201d<\/p>\n

Nyoro also attacked the fiscal logic underpinning the transaction, describing it as a \u201csecuritisation of dividends\u201d that violates the Public Finance Management Act.<\/p>\n

He explained that dividends from the state\u2019s 35 per cent shareholding already finance the current budget under the Appropriations Act and form the Medium-Term Debt Management Strategy (MTDS) projections.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe have securitised dividends for the next many years, yet in our long-term and medium-term planning as a country, they [are] already accounted for as revenue to the Consolidated Fund,\u201d Nyoro said.<\/p>\n

Future income streams <\/h2>\n

He warned that selling the asset while anticipating its future income streams would create a dangerous revenue mismatch and weaken fiscal planning.<\/p>\n

Nyoro dismissed the Treasury\u2019s urgency, arguing that an open tender process would better serve the country\u2019s infrastructure needs without deepening the budget deficit.<\/p>\n

His objections align with a petition filed by the Consumer Federation of Kenya (COFEK), which also appeared before the committee to challenge the sale on constitutional grounds.<\/p>\n

While COFEK focused on the lack of public participation and the exclusion of local investors, Nyoro provided the fiscal arithmetic to question the deal\u2019s financial prudence.<\/p>\n

The Treasury, through Sessional Paper No. 3 of 2025, maintains that the sale of 6.01 billion shares to Vodafone Kenya at Ksh 34 per share is necessary to capitalise the Sovereign Wealth Fund and finance infrastructure projects.<\/p>\n

Safaricom CEO Peter Ndegwa has defended the transaction as a \u201cshareholder realignment\u201d that preserves the company\u2019s governance and regulatory structure.<\/p>\n

However, Nyoro\u2019s testimony suggests significant resistance within government ranks over the trade-off between short-term liquidity and long-term national value.<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

NAIROBI, Kenya, Jan 20 \u2014 Kiharu MP Ndindi Nyoro has sharply opposed the Treasury\u2019s plan to divest a 15 per cent stake in Safaricom PLC to Vodafone Kenya, warning that the restricted sale structure could cost taxpayers an estimated Ksh 150 billion. In a submission to the Departmental Committee on Finance and National Planning on […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":0,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-129065","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","entry"],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack-related-posts":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/chezaspin.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/129065","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/chezaspin.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/chezaspin.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chezaspin.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=129065"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/chezaspin.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/129065\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/chezaspin.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=129065"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chezaspin.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=129065"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chezaspin.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=129065"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}