Former ICT Cabinet Secretary Joe Mucheru, on Tuesday, April 4, distanced himself from the government's Ksh6 billion acquisition of Telkom share, days before the August 2022 polls.
While appearing before Members of Parliament, the former CS explained that he was not privy to the meetings where the deal was authorised.
He explained that the Telkom buyout was discussed among the National Security Council, of which he was not a member.
Mucheru added that he was only called for meetings occasionally when his input was needed.
“I had no role in the acquisition. My understanding is that JHL was acquiring shares from Orange Group, which was exiting the Kenyan market and that this was a shareholder transaction in which the National Treasury was responsible on behalf of the Kenyan government.
“I was not a member of the National Security Council or the National Security Advisory Committee and therefore was not privy to their deliberations except when I would occasionally get invited," he stated.
Mucheru also added that the Ksh6 billion payment was not for the purchase of shares, but the payment of loans advanced to Telkom by Jamhuri Holdings.
On the other hand, he expressed that the purchase of the shares was necessary given the dependence by government offices and security departments on the infrastructure of the communication company.
“In my opinion, the buyback was value for money now that the government owns 100 per cent of Telkom Kenya's shareholding.
“The government has already paid for the connectivity of the fibre cable. It is unfortunate that while all government agencies spend lots of money paying the private sector for the provision of connectivity, Telkom has the capacity to offer this support to all these agencies and in turn support Telkom back to profitability," he stated.
Mucheru was the second former member of President Uhuru Kenyatta's Cabinet to appear before the committee in the investigations into the transactions.
Previously, former Treasury CS Ukur Yatani reappeared before the committee, where he detailed that the payout was informed by security reasons, given that various agencies use the infrastructure.
