Kalonzo: Mbadi misled Parliament over Sh5trn fund, Safaricom sale
Politics
By
Fred Kagonye
| Mar 05, 2026
The United Alternative Government has called on Parliament to reject a proposed Sh5 trillion infrastructure fund and a partial sale of the government's Safaricom stake.
Wiper Patriotic Front leader Kalonzo Musyoka, who read the coalition's statement, said Kenya's infrastructure deficit stems not from a lack of resources, but from a failure to execute, procurement corruption and financial opacity.
"As of 2024, Kenya already had over 60 public funds operating outside the Consolidated Fund, many with overlapping mandates, weak oversight and poor reporting, a proliferation the Controller of Budget has flagged as a major governance risk," noted Musyoka.
The opposition outfit targeted Treasury Cabinet Secretary John Mbadi, accusing him of contradicting himself before Parliament and in a sworn court affidavit.
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He told legislators the National Infrastructure Fund was subject to parliamentary oversight, then stated under oath that it was not a fund at all.
"A Cabinet Secretary who assures Parliament of a Sh5 trillion vehicle's constitutional status, then swears under oath to its private, unincorporated nature, has not made a technical error. He has misled the legislature on a matter of the highest fiscal and constitutional consequence," said Musyoka.
The coalition called on the National Assembly to summon Mbadi to reconcile the two positions.
On the Safaricom divestiture, Musyoka warned that reducing state ownership in the telco posed national security risks not yet disclosed to Parliament.
"Safaricom's network underpins the National Integrated Identity Management System, Huduma Namba, Lipa Na M-PESA government payments, eCitizen and national security-adjacent communication systems," observed Musyoka.
The outfit said the Sessional Paper does not specify who may be permitted to acquire the divested shares, raising the prospect of foreign state actors gaining access to critical infrastructure.
Using the Kenya Pipeline Company initial public offering as a cautionary tale, Musyoka said the process was marred by overvaluation, a non-competitive advisor selection process, limited retail investor participation and poor secondary market performance.
"If the government cannot execute a pipeline company IPO with credibility and genuine market confidence, there is no basis for public trust that it can responsibly execute a partial divestiture of Safaricom, Africa's second most capitalised stock by some measures, or manage a new multi-billion shilling National Infrastructure Fund," explained Musyoka.
Article 206 of the constitution, he added, requires all public revenue to flow through the Consolidated Fund and be subject to parliamentary appropriation, a safeguard the coalition argues the proposed fund would bypass.
The United Alternative Government proposed that Kenya instead deepen its infrastructure bond market, reform the public-private partnership framework and enforce fiscal discipline and oversight.