Telkom sale saga: MPs now want Yatani, Mucheru probed over Sh6.09 billion buyback
Then-Treasury Cabinet Secretary Ukur Yatani and his ICT colleague Joe Mucheru in Nairobi on April 25, 2022.
What you need to know:
- The lawmakers want the country informed if the two discharged their duties lawfully and if there was conflict of interest.
- Treasury has also been tasked to ensure the government is reimbursed the Sh6.09 billion paid to HIP and JHL at the onboarding of the new investor.
Two former Cabinet Secretaries and a Principal Secretary are in trouble after parliamentary teams sanctioned investigations into the Sh6.09 billion buyback of Telkom Kenya (TKL) from Jamhuri Holdings Ltd (JHL).
MPs want the Ethics and Anti-Corruption Commission (EACC) to investigate Mr Ukur Yatani who was in charge of the National Treasury and Mr Joe Mucheru who oversaw the ICT docket during the buyback of the telco from Helios Investors LLP/ Jamhuri Holdings Ltd.
The lawmakers want the country informed if the two discharged their duties lawfully and if there was conflict of interest.
Also in problems is former National Treasury PS Julius Muia and Mr Stanley Kamau, the former Director-General Public Investments and Portfolio Management (PIPM) at the National Treasury, according to recommendations by the National Assembly Committees of Finance and National Planning and Communications, Information and Innovation.
A joint report of the two teams tabled in the House on Thursday says the transaction was shrouded in illegalities as there was no legal framework for the re-acquisition of the formerly state-owned agencies by the government.
The committees specifically want the EACC to establish if the former state officers violated the Constitution, the Public Finance Management (PFM) Act and the PFM (National Government) Regulations of 2015.
But the report recommends that TKL be retained as a private entity, with the government as a minority shareholder.
The development likely to be music to the ears of President William Ruto’s government that has tapped a United Arab Emirates-based company to buy a huge stake of the telco.
“This is to enhance the company’s competitiveness, sustainability and efficacy in the market,” the report, awaiting debate and adoption or rejection by the MPs on the floor of the House, says.
To support the telco’s strategic positioning as a private entity, the committees want Treasury to facilitate the selection of an investor “who will make the necessary investments to transform the company into profitability on or before December 29, 2023”.
Treasury has also been tasked to ensure the government is reimbursed the Sh6.09 billion paid to HIP and JHL at the onboarding of the new investor.
The MPs dismissed reports that security would be jeopardised if TKL is privately controlled, adding that national security entities in other countries work with private Telcos in discharging their mandates.
