Cabinet has approved the Privatization Bill 2023 which will see non-performing public entities sold to private actors without the bureaucratic approval process by Parliament.
Under the approved bill, the National Treasury could proceed and sell non-strategic parastatals with ease without the legal and policy bottlenecks and the green light to approve the privatization process without any legal or policy framework barriers.
The proposed Privatization Bill 2023 approved by Cabinet will see Treasury approve the privatization deals of state-owned entities which for years had been impeded by procedural and legal hurdles
The Bill gives Treasury Power to identify and determine which public enterprises will be privatized.
The approval of the Bill comes just 5 months after President William Ruto stated that the government is seeking to privatize 10 state firms within a year through the National Securities Exchange
According to the Cabinet, under the new legal regime, the private sector and other investors will be allowed to contribute to the economy by having shares in the entities and reduce the demand for government resources and reliance on government financing by the parastatals.