State firms that have guzzled taxpayer cash

Telkom Kenya

When the Government sold Telkom Kenya to the French in December 2007, the main objective was to stop the perpetual pumping of taxpayers’ money into what had evolved into an inefficient monolith. France Telecom was believed to have the solid capital resources to invest in making the company capable of competing with nimbler, modern players. But, six years down the line, none of the objectives for which Telkom Kenya was sold have been met. It is now a textbook case of privatisation gone awry.