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President William Ruto in a past photo. The government can now sell loss-making and non-performing State corporations after President William Ruto signed the Privatisation Bill into law.
In Luke 16:10 we are reminded: “Whoever is faithful in little is faithful also in much.” Nations, like individuals, are judged by how they manage what is entrusted to them. When public enterprises bleed year after year while hospitals lack medicine and classrooms lack desks, we must ask ourselves: are we being faithful stewards? Today, Kenya faces a serious but honest question — should we privatise State entities?
Let us begin with facts, because numbers whisper truths, politics sometimes shouts more. Over the past decade, Kenya Airways, for example, has required repeated government bailouts, posting heavy losses in multiple years.
National broadcaster KBC survives largely on exchequer allocations in a media market dominated by agile private players. Posta Kenya, once the heartbeat of communication, has also struggled in the age of email, courier apps and mobile money.
An African proverb says, “The child who is not embraced by the village will burn it down to feel its warmth.” But another proverb warns us more soberly: “You do not milk a cow that does not eat.” When enterprises consume public funds without sustainable returns, reform becomes a duty, not an option.
Public service delivery
Privatisation should not be abandonment. The government’s genius lies in policy, regulation and public service delivery — not in selling airline tickets or sorting parcels. The US has no national airline. Carriers such as Delta Air Lines and American Airlines operate privately in competitive markets. The UK privatised British Airways and later Royal Mail. The sky did not fall. Letters still arrive. Planes still fly. Savings from reduced bailouts could be redirected to universal health coverage, modernising schools, equipping technical institutes and upgrading rural roads. Every shilling spent plugging recurrent losses is a shilling not invested in a cancer machine or a classroom.
In Matthew 25, the Parable of the Talents teaches that resources must multiply, not merely survive. Public funds buried in inefficient enterprises do not multiply. They stagnate. Yet — and this is crucial — privatisation must not become plunder. If reform is poorly designed, it can create oligarchies. An oligarchy is a system where a small group of wealthy individuals control key sectors of the economy and, by extension, influence politics. They are not just rich businesspeople; they are individuals whose economic power bends public policy to private interest.
History offers cautionary tales. In the 1990s, countries such as Russia and Ukraine rapidly privatised state assets after the collapse of the Soviet Union. The intention was to create market economies. The execution, however, was chaotic. Strategic assets in oil, gas, metals and media were acquired at throwaway prices by politically connected insiders. In Russia, oligarchs quickly became kingmakers. Media houses influenced elections. Energy magnates shaped legislation. Wealth and power fused dangerously. In Ukraine, competing oligarchic blocs funded rival political camps. Politics became less about ideology and more about which tycoon you served. Reform was tainted; institutions weakened.
Land of abundance
Kenya must never walk that road. Let me borrow an African folktale. A hyena once reached a crossroads on its way to a land of abundance. Each road promised riches. Greedy and impatient, the hyena tried to stretch its legs down all roads at once. It tore itself apart. That hyena represents a state that tries to run airlines, media houses, factories, hotels and farms simultaneously. In attempting to do everything, it loses focus and wastes resources.
But imagine if, at that same crossroads, a cunning leopard stood nearby offering to “assist” the hyena choose the road — in exchange for ownership of the destination. That leopard is the unchecked oligarch waiting to capture poorly executed privatisation.
Therefore, reform must be disciplined. First, asset valuation must be transparent and internationally benchmarked. No “cousin with a calculator” pricing strategic national assets. Second, privatisation should be broad-based. Public listings through the Nairobi Securities Exchange can allow wananchi to buy shares. If Kenyans could invest in Safaricom, they could invest in a restructured airline or logistics company. Privatisation should expand ownership, not compress it.
Third, anti-trust safeguards must prevent excessive cross-sector dominance. One investor should not own the airline, the broadcaster and the logistics chain simultaneously. We do not want one man owning the plane, the microphone and the parcel. Fourth, employee share ownership plans must be strong. Workers should become stakeholders, not casualties. Reform works best when it converts employees into partners.
Fifth, proceeds must be ring-fenced for capital development or debt reduction. Selling an asset to finance recurrent expenditure is like selling your dairy cow to buy lunch. The meal ends; the poverty remains.
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Dr Kangata is the governor of Murang’a; Email [email protected]
