Machakos: Machakos County residents have expressed their support for the Privatization Bill 2025 that seeks to repeal and re-enact the regulatory framework for the privatization of public entities in order to improve the efficiency of public entities.
According to Kenya News Agency, a public participation was conducted at Machakos University by the National Assembly Committee on Finance and National Planning together with the Committee on Public Debt and Privatization to seek views from stakeholders on the Privatization Bill 2025.
The Member of Parliament for Kitui Rural constituency, David Mwalika, who led the Committee, informed the stakeholders that the reason why there was a need for privatization of public entities is because some are no longer serving Kenyans and are driving the country into losses.
He further noted that the purpose for privatization is to improve infrastructure and delivery of public services through involvement of private capital and expertise and also improve the accountability, profitability, and efficiency of public entities.
A majority of those who supported the Privatization Bill argued that indeed there are some parastatals that are no longer serving Kenyans while incurring losses and should be properly evaluated and privatized so that Kenyans can get value for their money.
Joseph Kaloki from Matungulu noted that during the privatization, the common mwananchi should be included in the procurement of shares, which should be affordable for all with fair allocation.
However, Jonathan Ndambuki from Kangundo argued that the Bill is quite broad and it needed more time for everyone to familiarize with it and urged the committee members not to rush, but ensure other stakeholders from the grassroots are well informed about the Privatization Bill 2025.
Thomas Kiio from Kathiani demanded for evaluation of the public entities to be done in a professional manner to ensure value for money is achieved and arrest those found to have mismanaged parastatal funds.
Others present were Kajiado West MP Sunkuiya George and Kalama Sub-County George Kiama among other officials from the national government.
The participants included opinion leaders, Nyumba Kumi representatives, youth leaders, business and religious leaders, PWDs, as well as women's group representatives, among others.