Government has proposed selling around 26 parastatals. This has been on the agenda since 2013 but has never taken off. Let’s hope now is the time.
There should be no concern that a company will be less Kenyan if it is privatised. What Kenyan company is more iconic than Safaricom, yet it is 60 per cent owned by foreign investors?
None of the 26 companies is a strategic monopoly, with the possible exception of Kenya Pipeline. The rest are mostly sugar factories, banks and hotels where the private sector is already active.
The parastatal sector drains billions from the government budget every year. Money is lost through inefficiency and corruption, often the result of appointing political losers to directorships.
By some estimates, parastatals and public bodies swallow up to 20 per cent of the government budget.
It’s time to sell them. Let private owners make them profitable or close them. The only problem with this list is that it does not go far enough – it should also include the NCPB and the National Oil Corporation.
Quote of the day: "In the end, that's what this election is about. Do we participate in a politics of cynicism or a politics of hope?"
Barack Obama
He was reelected US President on 6 November, 2012
