Opposition MPs in Kenya's new unitary government have called for the Safaricom sale to be postponed pending a review of the valuation of the company and its shareholders. ODM secretary general Anyang' Nyong'o said the sale should be delayed because of numerous questions regarding the firm's ownership and to comply with a privatisation law enacted in 2005.
"We should proceed with the share offering within the privatisation act, which means the share offering may need to be delayed," Nyong'o told a news conference - although he failed to say how long the delay would be.
The opposition politicians had opposed the privatisation which was due to occur before the troubled elections last year as they feared the cash windfall would be used by the government to boost its political support. As the government is still somewhat unstable - the calls for further delays are likely to be politically motivated.
The opposition party had also tried to delay the sale until the identity of the beneficiaries of the controversial stake held by mystery company, Mobitelea Ventures was unraveled. The Government plans to sell 25 per cent of its holdings in Safaricom, leaving it with a 35 per cent stake. Vodafone Group owns, via its Kenyan subsidiary 35% of the company - and the mystery company holds the remaining 5%.
Kenay's Finance Minster, Amos Kimunya announced a couple of weeks ago that the privatisation would start on March 28th. The IPO will offer 10 billion shares priced at 5 Kenyan shillings a share, which implies a value of KES200 billion ($3 billion).
Posted to the site on 26th March 2008
Posted to: www.cellular-news.com/story/30112.php