Kenya’s High Court has cancelled the sale of the government’s 15% stake in Safaricom to South Africa’s Vodacom, ruling the deal unconstitutional and ordering the shares returned to the state, The Condia reported. The judgment on 15 September came 11 weeks after the deal closed and gave Vodacom control of East Africa’s most valuable listed company.
Why the court cancelled it
A three-judge bench of Francis Gikonyo, Roselyne Aburili and Tabitha Ouya cancelled all the agreements and approvals behind the sale. They gave three main reasons:
- No proper public consultation: selling such a large public asset required it, and neither cabinet nor parliament met that standard.
- Lack of transparency: the court criticised the “unexplained obscurity” around the buyer and found officials withheld documents and misrepresented facts.
- Price and competition: the valuation was arbitrary, and regulators did not properly examine the competition risks of Vodacom taking control.
How the deal happened
Vodacom announced the roughly $2.1 billion plan in December 2025: $1.6 billion for the government’s 15% and about $500 million for a further 5% held indirectly through Vodafone. Activists including broadcaster Tony Gachoka and Professor Fredrick Ogola challenged it. After the Court of Appeal lifted a freeze on 26 June 2026, while warning it could still be reversed, the government sold the shares at KSh34 each on 30 June, raising about KSh204.3 billion. Vodacom’s stake rose from about 35% to 55%.
What happens next
Vodacom says it will appeal and ask for the ruling to be paused in the meantime. Its shares briefly fell sharply in Johannesburg before closing just 0.6% lower, suggesting investors do not expect the deal to fully unwind. Safaricom shares traded at about KSh36.50, above the price the government accepted. The 25% of Safaricom owned by ordinary investors was not part of the sale.
Why it matters
The ruling is a strong statement that governments must consult the public and be transparent when selling major state assets. Similar questions often arise in Nigeria around privatisation and the sale of government stakes in strategic companies, and courts across the region may look to this case.
Source: The Condia.
