NAIROBI, Kenya, Jan 12 – The National Treasury has formally moved to divest a 15 percent equity stake in Safaricom PLC to the Vodacom Group, a transaction valued at approximately Sh244.5 billion ($1.6 billion).
If the sale is approved, it would fundamentally restructure the ownership of East Africa’s most profitable firm. The deal, positioned as a fiscal hedge against the 2025/2026 budget deficit, effectively substitutes politically volatile tax hikes with immediate asset liquidation.
The transaction, detailed in Sessional Paper No. 3 of 2025, would see the Government of Kenya’s shareholding retreat to a minority 20 percent, while the Vodacom/Vodafone consortium consolidates a controlling 55 percent majority.
While Treasury Cabinet Secretary John Mbadi has defended the sale as a “premium exit”, citing a share price of Sh34 against a market average of Sh28, security analysts and legislators have raised concerns regarding digital sovereignty and the “illusion” of local control.
Despite “binding conditions” requiring the Safaricom CEO to remain a Kenyan national and the headquarters to stay in Nairobi, corporate governance experts warn that the consortium’s proposed 55 percent equity stake grants it mathematical leverage to dictate board composition and capital allocation. This could potentially give them the power to override local executive leadership.
The debate has also begun over the integrity of the personal data of 30 million Kenyans. Safaricom manages the country’s transactional backbone via M-Pesa, along with critical health and credit metadata.
Under the Data Protection Act, the Office of the Data Protection Commissioner (ODPC) mandates that such strategic data remain within Kenya. However, technology policy analysts argue that if ratified, majority foreign ownership would create a regulatory “grey zone.”
The primary concern is that “technical interoperability” could allow Safaricom’s backend to be integrated into Vodacom’s global cloud infrastructure.
Experts warn this could result in the offshore processing of sensitive Kenyan data under the guise of operational efficiency. Effectively, bypassing the ODPC’s oversight capabilities.
The Departmental Committee on Finance and National Planning, currently holding joint hearings at the Glee Hotel, has prioritized these security implications.
Committee members are today questioning whether the government’s retained “golden share” veto rights would be legally sufficient to protect national interests should the deal proceed.
In memoranda submitted to the committee, civil society groups and the Law Society of Kenya (LSK) argued that the government’s proposed retreat to a minority position complicates its ability to guarantee national digital security.
They have called on the Treasury to explain how a Kenyan CEO can effectively safeguard citizen data if the board—which holds the ultimate fiduciary power—answers to a foreign jurisdiction.
