Red Flags Raised By MP’s Concerning Airtel, Telkom Merger.

A committee in the National Assembly has raised concerns about the proposed Telkom Kenya and Airtel merger saying that there are unresolved issues that need to be put to book before the deal is sealed.

The two mobile service providers are said to9 have signed an agreement to merge their businesses and operate as Airtel-Telkom but the committee charged with the implementation of the deal claim that this merger has all signs of scandal all over it. It allegedly seems like private individuals want to buy off a public entity through the backdoor.

As a result of these allegations, the committee has invited the government agencies to present themselves and shed more light concerning the merger in detail and make known the intentions and full term goals of this partnership. This is of cause apart from what has been said that the industry players aim to dominate and beat Safaricom.

The committee chaired by Narok North MP Moitalele ole Kenta are interested in the 2014 Special Report of Public Investment Committee (PIC) that speaks on the privatization, recapitalisation and restructuring Telkom Kenya’s balance sheet which was adopted by Parliament in 2015. The committee has a responsibility to ensure that every resolution offered by the House is correctly and fully implemented.

The agencies required to make an appearance before the committee are National Treasury, Ethics and Anti-Corruption Commission Headquarters (EACC), State Law office, Telkom Kenya, Communications Authority of Kenya (CA) and the Ministry of ICT

Godfrey Osotsi the vice chair of the committee and who is also a nominated MP on Monday confirmed that the report had been presented to the committee for consideration proceeding reports of a looming merger. “We are handling the matter. We have invited all those mentioned in the report and the implementing agencies to establish the status of the implementation of the report. We want to know from these agencies why the report has never been implemented,” Mr Osotsi said.

In the restructuring, carried out in December 2007, France Telecom (now Orange S.A.) bought a 51 percent stake in Telkom Kenya at a cost of Sh26 billion but PIC dismissed the deal as akin to share- fixing arising from the fact that the Government only got Sh2.5 billion of the required Sh4.9 billion.