NAIROBI, Kenya, Jan 20 — Kiharu MP Ndindi Nyoro has sharply opposed the Treasury’s 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 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.
He said subjecting the deal to international competitive bidding would reveal the true market price and maximise returns to the Consolidated Fund.
“Why can’t we be patient for two months and get a higher price?” Nyoro asked the committee. “If Kenya gets an additional Sh150 billion, everyone benefits.”
Nyoro also attacked the fiscal logic underpinning the transaction, describing it as a “securitisation of dividends” that violates the Public Finance Management Act.
He explained that dividends from the state’s 35 per cent shareholding already finance the current budget under the Appropriations Act and form the Medium-Term Debt Management Strategy (MTDS) projections.
“We 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,” Nyoro said.
Future income streams
He warned that selling the asset while anticipating its future income streams would create a dangerous revenue mismatch and weaken fiscal planning.
Nyoro dismissed the Treasury’s urgency, arguing that an open tender process would better serve the country’s infrastructure needs without deepening the budget deficit.
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.
While COFEK focused on the lack of public participation and the exclusion of local investors, Nyoro provided the fiscal arithmetic to question the deal’s financial prudence.
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.
Safaricom CEO Peter Ndegwa has defended the transaction as a “shareholder realignment” that preserves the company’s governance and regulatory structure.
However, Nyoro’s testimony suggests significant resistance within government ranks over the trade-off between short-term liquidity and long-term national value.
