Business Daily (Nairobi)
24 April 2008
editorial
The Government has shown great initiative in terms of privatisation in the last few years. It has brought to the market KenGen, Kenya Re and the just concluded Safaricom flotation.
But these are parastatals that should have fallen into public hands many years back.
What is also notable is that the privatisation that has taken place over the years has only let off a little of the State-held portion.
For example, it only let go 30 per cent of KenGen and is giving only 25 per cent at Safaricom.
Experience in Kenya has shown that the State is not a good manager of assets that need to generate income regularly and therefore a bigger stake in these companies should be offered to the public.
Furthermore, the State should sell its stake in such companies like the Kenya Airports Authority (KAA), Kenya Ports Authority (KPA) and Kenya Pipeline.
There is no need for the Government to start looking for foreigners to have "strategic share holding" in these organisations as no special expertise lacking in Kenya is required.
It is not only a way of sharing the benefits of growth of these companies, but also a way of ensuring that management is held accountable by shareholders who have the profit motive in mind.
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