Residents of Machakos have called for the arrest and prosecution of parastatal heads accused of mismanaging public resources, even as Members of Parliament (MPs) continue public participation forums on the Privatisation Bill, 2025.

Speaking during the third day of hearings in Machakos on Wednesday, August 20, 2025, locals insisted that struggling parastatals should not be privatised without first holding their managers accountable for embezzlement and poor leadership.

“We cannot move forward to privatise non-profit-making entities without holding the managers who took them to their knees accountable. We want all those who embezzled the funds meant for these parastatals arrested and prosecuted,” Jonathan Ndambuki, a participant at the forum, was quoted by the Parliament of Kenya.

Accountability

The delegation, led by Kitui Rural MP David Mwalika and members of the Finance and National Planning and Public Debt and Privatisation Committees, was told that privatisation without accountability would only burden citizens further.

Residents also pressed MPs to disclose the exact number of parastatals earmarked for privatisation.

In his response, Mwalika revealed that 80 per cent of the over 200 state corporations in Kenya currently rely on the exchequer for survival, but the final decision on which entities will be privatised lies with Treasury Cabinet Secretary John Mbadi.

“The list will be brought to Parliament, which has the power to either add more parastatals or remove some from the list before approval or rejection,” Mwalika assured.

Citizens further demanded more time and civic education to understand the bill, decrying what they termed as a rushed public participation process.

The parliamentary delegation will continue collecting views tomorrow at NITA Kitengela, Kajiado County, as the push to reshape Kenya’s parastatal sector gathers momentum.

Kenya Pipeline Company

Kenya Pipeline Company (KPC) is among the parastatals that have been earmarked for privatisation.

The MPs had earlier urged the National Government to focus on eliminating wastage and mismanagement of public funds before moving ahead with plans to privatise the KPC.

The legislators made their position clear during an engagement with Treasury Cabinet Secretary John Mbadi on Monday, August 11, 2025, who was defending the government’s proposal to sell part of KPC.

The plan, outlined in Sessional Paper No. 2 of 2025, seeks to raise approximately Ksh100 billion to support the current budget and prevent delays in key development projects.

CS Mbadi argued that privatisation offers a viable way to raise funds without imposing additional taxes.

“Raising taxes at this point is not an option. Privatisation will give us fiscal space while avoiding more burdens on taxpayers,” he said.