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{
    "id": 542477,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/542477/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 208,
    "type": "speech",
    "speaker_name": "Hon. Keynan",
    "speaker_title": "",
    "speaker": {
        "id": 41,
        "legal_name": "Adan Wehliye Keynan",
        "slug": "adan-keynan"
    },
    "content": "Hon. Speaker, let me take hon. Members back. Telkom Kenya is one of the off-shoots of the defunct giant Kenya Posts and Telecommunications Corporation, which later on saw the birth of Communications Commission of Kenya, Telkom Kenya Limited, Postal Corporation and a number of other entities. Before privatization, Telkom Kenya was a 100 per cent Government owned entity. I will be demonstrating soon how in December, 2007 and December, 2012 two unique things happened. When the Government of Kenya decided to undertake the process of privatising Telkom Kenya, initially the idea was to sell 51 per cent of the shareholding of that entity. A number of companies registered with Telcom Kenya and purchased bids. The first one was France Telcom South Africa, Telkom South Africa, Reliance Communication of India, LAP Green Network, Alcazar Capital, MTNL India, VSNL Tata India and Sudatel South Sudan. The seven companies picked the bid; registered with Telkom Kenya and purchased all the documents but only four of them later on returned the completely filled technical and financial proposal. These were France Telcom, Telcom South Africa, Reliance Communication of India, and LAP Green Network, India. The bids were evaluated and eventually France Telkom, the consortium that included Alcazar Capital Limited, quoted USD390 million; Telecom South Africa quoted USD282.8 million and Reliance Communication of India quoted USD221 million. As a result of this, the consortium that consisted of France Telcom SA, which included Alcazar Capital Limited, won the bid. After successfully paying the USD390 million, they were allowed to launch the Orange brand in Kenya on 21st December, 2007. Hon. Speaker, a number of events took place as a result of this privatization. First of all, the fact that the Government allowed the sale of 51 per cent of its shareholding means that it was reduced to a minority shareholder. The Government shareholding was reduced from 100 per cent to 49 per cent. The privatisation took place without the involvement of the Privatisation Commission, the Communication Commission and the Attorney-General of the Republic of Kenya. Therefore, the whole transaction was conducted in an opaque manner. It is because of this that today the giant entity once called “Telkom Kenya” has been reduced to a struggling small time communication company. We have always been reading bad news about Telkom Kenya. It is because privatisation process was not carried out in a transparent and prudent manner that would have given value for money to our taxpayers. Hon. Speaker, 21st December 2007 was barely a week before the general election. That was the time when whoever was in charge decided to sell off 51 per cent of the shares of Telkom Kenya."
}