Nairobi — Parliamentary scrutiny of the government's plan to partially divest its shareholding in Safaricom PLC has formally begun, with two House committees convening stakeholder hearings starting Monday.

The Departmental Committee on Finance and National Planning and the Select Committee on Public Debt and Privatisation will jointly consider Sessional Paper No. 3 of 2025 following a communication by the Speaker of the National Assembly.

The sittings, scheduled to run from January 12 to January 21, 2026, are being held at the Glee Hotel and will bring together public and private sector stakeholders to present views on the proposed transaction.

On the first day, the committees are holding internal meetings and consultations with public sector agencies, with official stakeholder hearings expected to begin on Tuesday.

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The proposed partial divestiture has attracted public interest, given Safaricom's strategic role in the economy and the potential implications for public debt, capital markets and government revenue.

Parliament has said it will provide updates on the stakeholder appearance schedule as the hearings progress.

Vodacom will make an upfront payment of Sh40.2 billion (approximately $309 million) to the government, offsetting future dividends from the government's residual 20 per cent stake in Safaricom.

The Sessional Paper notes that Safaricom's volume-weighted average share price in the six months to December 2, 2025, was about Sh27.50, giving the company a market capitalisation of Sh1.158 trillion ($8.979 billion).

The proposed sale price of Sh34 per share represents a 17 per cent premium over the current market price.