By Semafor Africa
Photos: YouTube Screenshots
Kenya’s National Treasury laid out plans to raise $1.15 billion from the sale of state-owned enterprises to reduce the government’s growing debt burden.
Eleven firms have been proposed for initial sale including the Kenya Pipeline Company, the Kenyatta International Convention Center, and New KCC, the oldest dairy processor in east and central Africa.
Albert Mwenda, a director-general at the Kenyan Treasury, said a court process has delayed the privatization program, but the government plans to channel earnings from sales to pay-off suppliers and reform agencies.
The move comes as Nairobi tries to balance the 2025-26 budget at a time of soaring public resistance to higher taxes. Some 35 other companies in which the government owns stakes, such as the telecom major Safaricom, could also see those holdings put up for sale, according to local media.
