Opinion and Analysis
By BUSINESS DAILY
Plans by French firm Orange to sell key assets of
telecoms operator Telkom though sound in the realm of corporate
management is one that in our view should be executed with a lot of
precision.
Telkom, though a private company, is one of the jewels of
the Kenyan family. It is a company that was built over many years by
taxes paid by ordinary Kenyans before it was sold to Orange.
Besides, the people of Kenya still have a significant 30 per cent stake in the company held by the Treasury.
Selling assets as Telkom plans to do is not
necessarily a bad thing. But there are certain principles that should
govern such important transactions.
First, the people of Kenya -- by whose sweat the
company was built and continue to be owners through the government --
deserve to be fully informed of such important plans.
It is rather unsettling to many of the minority
shareholders (the Kenyan public) that the assets sale is coming amid
talk that Orange, the principle shareholder is shopping for a buyer of
its stake in the company.
The company has not hidden the fact that it is
looking for an exit path and many observers have been left wondering
whether the sale of assets is part of that strategy.
Given what has happened in the company since it was
privatised eight years ago, Telkom’s executives must be reminded that
they owe Kenyans a transparent and solid process that clearly defines
the business and the wider social benefits of such actions.
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