Prime Cabinet Secretary Musalia Mudavadi has urged Kenyans to back the ongoing bid by the government to privatize a number of state institutions.
While reiterating that the move is well-thought-out, Mudavadi said the Kenyans stand to benefit more from the process as opposed to the current state of affairs where a majority of institutions operate below expectation and are only sustained by taxpayers’ money.
He said the government has over time injected finances into the institutions proposed but they still show no sign of vitalizing.
“Si kazi ya serikali kuwa inatoa parastatals kwa ICU kila wakati. Pesa badala ziende kwa chakula zinaenda wa parastatal ambayo haiendi vizuri. Hatuwezi kuwa na serikali ambayo inaendelea namna hiyo,” charged Mudavadi
The PCS reiterated that all the government wants to do is to get value from the said institutions even as he confirmed that the process had been approved a few years ago and only failed to take off because no one has been willing to implement the plan.
“Privatization is not new. Parliament approved the Privatization Act. It is in law that you can privatize. What we should debate about is whether we have done it in accordance with the law so that the true value of the process and the outcome is reflecting what Kenyans deserve,” he said
“Tukisema kuna program ya privatization watu wanasema mnataka kuuza mali, hapana. Tunataka tubadilishe ili those institutions ziwe na profit, zilipe dividend kwa serikali,” added the Foreign Affairs CS
Mudavadi disclosed that the government has been having a challenge in paying salaries because some of the monies that could have been used for that purpose continue to be pumped into entities that have remained unproductive for years.
“Do we pay salaries or look into parastatals that have a problem? We have to look into this afresh. Nations use different strategies to salvage and grow their economies and privatization is one of them,” he said
The institutions listed for privatization by the National Treasury include; Kenyatta International Convention Centre (KICC), Kenya Literature Bureau (KLB), Kenya Pipeline Company (KPC), and National Oil Corporation of Kenya (NOCK) are among the companies listed on the privatisation programme.
Others are Kenya Seed Company Limited (KSC), Mwea Rice Mills Ltd (MRM), Western Kenya Rice Mills Ltd (WKRM), New Kenya Cooperative Creameries Limited (NKCC), Numeric Machining Complex Limited (NMC), Vehicle Manufacturers Limited (KVM) and Rivatex East Africa Limited (REAL).
