Inside the Court Battle Over Safaricom Shares That Could Change Kenya’s Future
Safaricoms lawyers are urging the High Court not to put the brakes on the proposed government share sale in the telecoms firm, claiming that the whole process is above board and properly watched over – and not deserving of any court orders to put everything on hold.
Through their lawyers, Safaricom have been telling the court that if the sale is blocked now, this will throw the market into chaos and really damage investor confidence, and there’s a real risk this could send some pretty confusing messages to people here in Kenya and elsewhere in the world too. They argued the real issues here are actually basically commercial ones and that the regulatory bodies are looking into all this as we speak.
Safaricom went on to say that the National Assembly of Kenya should be allowed to get on with its constitutional duties, pointing out that the whole process still needs to get parliamentary approval. They noted that parliament is on recess right now so there’s been no final decision made either.
The company added that they’d already done public consultation and that the proposed sale wont lead to any job losses which was one of the concerns raised by people opposing the sale.
Pinpointing Safaricoms arguments, lawyer Andrew Musangi rubbished claims that the proposed sale poses any risks to people’s data. He said that the whole process involves a whole lot of different regulatory approvals, and went on to say that the investors are all perfectly legitimate parties not just some people who are being asked to come in from the cold and that no evidence what so ever has been put forward to suggest that there’s any kind of risk.
“How do they suddenly come under threat now? You have not been told where the threats are from,” Musangi argued.
Safaricom also shot down claims that the sale would somehow water down its homegrown roots here in Kenya, countering that despite the proposed changes to its ownership, it remains – and will forever be – a Kenyan company.
Its team of lawyers warned the court against rushing into any decisions that could essentially settle the dispute right now, and pushed for the people bringing the case to be given a full opportunity to lay out their argument in court. They argued that so far there just aren’t enough grounds to justify freezing the sale, describing the motion as an attempt for the court to be “talked into” blocking the deal before enough evidence has been presented.
Meanwhile the Office of the Attorney General of Kenya threw their weight behind Safaricom’s stance telling the court that no work on the sale has started yet and that the whole thing is still in its very early days. They pointed out that trying to stop it now would be premature.
But on the other side of the argument, petitioners led by Kalonzo Musyoka and lawyer Lempaa Suyiaka are urging the court to keep things as they are. They’re warning that if the sale goes ahead, it could render their case pretty much useless and cause the loss of assets that they consider to be vital to the country.
“We’re asking the court to give us conservatory orders so that the government can’t push ahead with selling off Safaricom shares,” they told the court.
The High Court now has the task of deciding whether to step in and block the sale or let things move forward as planned, all as this messy legal battle rumbles on.
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Inside the Court Battle Over Safaricom Shares That Could Change Kenya’s Future
