Finance Cabinet Secretary John Mbadi has explained why the National Treasury has not opened the sale of the government’s 15 per cent stake in Safaricom to the Nairobi Securities Exchange (NSE) for the Kenyan public to purchase.

Speaking during a morning radio show on Wednesday, December 10, 2025, Mbadi addressed growing controversy over the sale of the stake to South African multinational Vodacom.

He noted that while Kenyans could technically buy the shares if the stake were listed on the NSE, Vodacom was better suited for the acquisition due to its long-standing relationship with Safaricom and deep experience in the telecommunications sector.

According to him, the company has the capacity to take on risks that new entrants may struggle with. He further explained that the share price at the NSE is significantly lower than the price the government received.

Mbadi also argued that listing the stake on the NSE would not have been financially prudent.

He explained that the share price currently trading on the local exchange is significantly lower than what the government secured in the deal with Vodacom.

Offloading such a large block of shares to the public would have increased market supply, likely triggering a price drop and leading to even lower returns.

“The share price of those in NSE is way less than the price that we got. If we had taken it to the market, we would have got it at a discount share price, because we were offloading more shares. We create more supplies of shares as opposed to the demand, which is constant; the price would even come down,” Mbadi stated

Saturation of shares

He added that the government is already planning to list another major state corporation, the Kenya Pipeline Company (KPC), on the NSE.

Introducing another large asset like the Safaricom stake at the same time, he said, would saturate the market and depress share valuations further.

“We have another company which is coming out, which we will list in the NSE. The KPC – if again you put in another asset, you will be saturating the market; it could not have been a good idea.”

Stabilising Ksh

He further noted that there is an additional benefit in selling the shares to Vodacom because the payment will be made in hard currency.

This, he said, is more advantageous than offloading the stake to the domestic market, as hard currency inflows help strengthen Kenya’s foreign exchange reserves and contribute to stabilising the shilling.

“There is also another benefit in selling shares to Vodacom because even with the way it will be paid, they will pay in hard currencies, as opposed to if you sold or offloaded the shares to the domestic market.

Hard currencies have the benefit of improving our forex reserves, which again would help us in stabilising the shilling further.”

Mbadi concluded that from an economic and fundamental standpoint, selling the stake to Vodacom makes more sense than offering it on the local market.

The suggestion to go the competitive way through bidding to various investors had been proposed by Kiharu MP Ndidi Nyoro, arguing that with competitive bidding, it could have earned the state a better share price as compared to a sale to a specific company