With some ministers very quiet on the job these days, some key permanent secretaries are speaking more about their ministry policy directions and plans for the rest of the year.
Communications
Dr Bitange Ndemo, the Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Communications gave an interview this week where he revealed that:
– Telkom will be restructured in the next few months and privatised by the end of the year. This is urgent because the value of Telkom is decreasing each year and the restructuring, estimated to cost 50 billion shillings, will be financed by the sale of 9% Safaricom to Vodafone.
– The licensing of a second national operator, – FORGET ABOUT IT, as Telkom already faces enough competition
Finance
– Joseph Kinyua, the Finance PS announced that government would privatise National Bank by the end of the year.
– Consolidated bank will also be sold to another party. The previous owners of Consolidated have expressed interest in re-aquiring the bank’s assets.
– He also announced that the government will follow in the steps of Rwanda and limit purchases of government limousines. Good luck, as we’ll keep any eye out for any new GK giants like the all new Merc S Class.
– Sector documents from the Ministry of Finance are now available at their web site
Mght be just me but I think that this is great progress.
Permanent Secretaries are the government functionaries responsible for designing and implementing policy and this demontrates this quite clearly.
Elected politicians who are appointed to cabinet positions are essentially representatives of their premier and party at ministries. They should not be allowed to muck around with policy of their own volition in the ministries that they run.