Mucheru: I was not involved in Telkom Kenya transactions

The inquiry into the Sh6.09 billion controversial Telkom Kenya buyback by the state continued Tuesday with former ICT Cabinet Secretary Joe Mucheru absolving himself from any wrongdoing.

Appearing before the joint Parliamentary committee, Mucheru told MPs he was not directly involved in the transactions.

His role in the process, he said, was advisory as the matter was discussed at the National Security Council of which he is not a member and Telkom was not a state corporation under his ministry.

“My role was only advisory, I was only called for meetings occasionally when my input was needed. This was an investment by the government under the National Treasury,” he said.

Mucheru was appearing before the joint parliamentary committee inquiring transfer process and the legal status of the telecommunication network.

It is seeking to establish if the law was followed in the disbursement of the money under Article 233 of the Constitution.

The committees on Finance and Planning and Information and Communication in the matter are co-chaired by Molo MP Kuria Kimani and his Dagoreti counterpart John Kiarie.

Mucheru, however, supported the move by the government to acquire the shares terming it the best decision.

“It is important for the government to control its National Security Communication Infrastructure…in other jurisdictions governments have their own internal secure networks,” he said.

“In my opinion, there was value for money since the government now owns Telkom Kenya 100 per cent.”

Helios Investments Partners chief finance officer Paul Cunningham who also appeared on the same day said the transactions was above board.

The London-based Helios through Jamhuri Holdings Limited owned 60 per cent of the stake in Telkom before the government in a controversial sale, some days before the 2022 general elections acquired it.

When he appeared before the committee, former Treasury CS Ukur Yatani dragged the National Security Council into the debate arguing it sanctioned it.

Yatani said following the advice from the organ they were forced to abandon an earlier plan to have the telecommunication network merged with Airtel.

 “Helios Investment and I, meaning the Treasury had approved the merger until we were advised that, that was a dangerous route to go and we must abandon the process,” he said.

He was appearing before the joint Parliamentary Committee on Communication and Finance's controversial takeover plan, on Wednesday.

Yatani told the MPs that he had no reason to question the decision made by the top security organ to proceed and approve the release of the money to the company.

The move to fully acquire the mobile network, he stated, was informed by the decision by Helios that it had continued to make losses.