According to Ruth Kinyanjui, an Economist and Governance expert based in Kenya, private participation in state-owned enterprises brings efficiency, innovation and accountability, a dynamic that could shape the outcome of the government\u2019s plan to sell a 65% stake in the Kenya Pipeline Company (KPC).<\/p>\n
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The administration aims to raise about $825 million through an initial public offering (IPO), the country\u2019s first since 2015, to fund major infrastructure projects including roads, port and airport upgrades, and the expansion of energy networks.<\/p>\n
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President William Ruto\u2019s government sees asset sales as a vital tool to meet growing infrastructure demands driven by population growth and regional trade.<\/p>\n
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Kinyanjui said the IPO could provide a meaningful boost to funding and efficiency, noting that previous partial privatisations, such as Safaricom, had delivered strong returns while improving governance.<\/p>\n
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\u201cFrom a budgeting perspective, we have long underinvested in infrastructure, even as demand and capacity requirements increase rapidly,\u201d she added. Public-private partnerships, she said, have already proven successful in driving large-scale projects forward.<\/p>\n
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She also highlighted the importance of transparency and accountability to guard against mismanagement or corruption, a persistent concern in major government transactions.<\/p>\n
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On fuel prices and supply stability, Kinyanjui said the sale is unlikely to have a direct impact due to Kenya\u2019s regulatory framework. She also expects strong investor appetite for KPC shares given the company\u2019s track record of profitability.<\/p>\n
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The government has indicated that Kenyan citizens will be given priority in the share offering, aiming to broaden local ownership while unlocking capital for long-term development.<\/p>\n
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–ChannelAfrica–<\/p>\n","protected":false},"featured_media":22607,"template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false},"news-type":[78,44],"class_list":["post-22606","news","type-news","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","news-type-featured","news-type-finance","entry"],"acf":{"short_description":"'Private participation in state-owned enterprises brings efficiency, innovation and accountability'","published_date":"2026-01-19 18:53:47","news_description":"'Private participation in state-owned enterprises brings efficiency, innovation and accountability'","form_embed":"","author":"","image_caption":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news\/22606","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/news"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news\/22606\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":25845,"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news\/22606\/revisions\/25845"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/22607"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=22606"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"news-type","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news-type?post=22606"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}