John Mbadi dismisses Ndindi Nyoro’s claims on undervaluing Safaricom
By Kenneth Mwenda, December 5, 2025Treasury Cabinet Secretary John Mbadi has rejected criticism from Kiharu MP Ndindi Nyoro over the government’s planned sale of a 15 per cent stake in Safaricom.
Speaking during a morning TV interview on Friday, December 5, 2025, Mbadi said Nyoro’s claims that the government is underselling Safaricom are based on a misunderstanding of how share valuation works.
“You know, we need some fact-check on what he said because he is mixing me,” Mbadi said.
Watch: MP Nyoro opposes Safaricom stake sale, says Kenyans are being short-changed
He explained that valuing a firm as an entity is very different from valuing its shares.
“First, is he talking about the valuation of the firm or the share prices? These are totally different things. When you value a firm as an entity, the value would be different. It is not the same as the value of the shares. These are basic accounting facts,” he added.
Mbadi questioned Nyoro’s expertise in the area, suggesting that economists are not necessarily strong in valuation.
“The bottom line is the value of the shares is not equal to the value of the firm. I saw some writer saying that Safaricom today could be worth Ksh2.5 trillion, something like that. Fine, it could be. But we are not selling the company as a going concern. We are offloading shares. Shares can only be sold at market price,” Mbadi said.
He explained that the government had calculated the average price of Safaricom shares over the last six months and added a premium.
“Let him just calculate the price. You don’t need research. Just get the data from the Nairobi Securities Exchange and see the price of shares. That part is understood. What you are selling is the shares, not the firm itself,” he said.
Mbadi also pointed out Nyoro’s past stance on Safaricom.
“If you played the clip of Ndindi Nyoro before he became chair of the Tanga Tanga Group, he told Uhuru’s government, point blank, that instead of borrowing more money, sell shares in Safaricom. That is exactly what we are doing today,” he said, adding that Nyoro’s current political affiliations are unclear.
Nyoro questions share sale
Nyoro has argued that the government is selling shares at Ksh34 each, a price he says is below the company’s past value. In a statement last week, he highlighted that Safaricom shares traded above Ksh45 in August 2021.
“The people representing Kenyans in government actually sided with the buyers and decided to sell Safaricom for a song. Most companies on the NSE, including banks, are selling past 2021 levels, but we want to give a 25 per cent discount to buyers,” Nyoro said.
He also questioned the structure of the transaction. Nyoro suggested that dividing Safaricom into three companies – the telco, the tower business, and Safaricom Financial Services – would have produced a higher total value. He expressed concern that the government is collecting dividends in advance, effectively mortgaging future earnings.
“Forty billion shillings out of the consideration is dividends collected in advance. In other words, securitising dividends,” he said.
Nyoro described the move as an outright sale, not a privatisation.
“Safaricom was already a private company. This is purely for revenue raising. Even as revenue raising, Kenyans are not getting value for their money,” he said.
The previous night, Thursday, December 4, Mbadi defended the valuation used in the sale to Vodacom Group, which already owns 40 per cent of Safaricom. Speaking on TV, he said the six-month average of Safaricom shares, which formed the basis of the government’s pricing, was around Ksh25 per share.
“We’re getting Ksh34 per share. I don’t know how you can negotiate better than that,” he said.
Mbadi added that the deal was strategically sound because Vodacom is an existing shareholder with experience in Safaricom.
“They can take higher risk than any new investor. That is why it was better to discuss and agree among shareholders,” he said.
He also dismissed Nyoro’s claims of conflicted or incompetent officials.
“Even though Hon. Ndindi is talking of people conflicted or incompetent or both, I completely believe that he is the latter,” he said.
The government plans to sell 6,009,814,200 ordinary shares, equivalent to 15 per cent of Safaricom, at Ksh34 per share. The total transaction value is Ksh244.5 billion. After completion, the State’s ownership will reduce from 35 per cent to 20 per cent. Mbadi emphasised that this should not be seen as a sale of the company, but as a divestiture of shares.