A headline in one of the recent dailies read “Telkom wants 10 billion shilling bailout from taxpayers.” If you pay taxes, be it P.A.Y.E or duty tax when you import something or even VAT when you buy something from the shops, this headline should speak volumes to you.
We don’t hear too much about Telkom Kenya, and in fact most of us forget that it is a partnership between Telkom Kenya and France Telecom that brought Orange to our sandy shores. It follows logically that if Telkom Kenya is in trouble, so is Orange.
According to the article, the company needs to pay off KES 51 Billion worth of bank loans. One of which is a 5.8 billion shilling loan to Standard Chartered Bank due at the end of the month. As a matter of fact, the management says that should they not receive the funds they will be unable to pay simple bills such as electricity and water, and even salaries.
This makes me wonder why the company was indeed privatised, it would be interesting to know how French Telecom runs because it seems that the company is in a worse off position than it was pre-privatisation.
It’s worth remembering that since privatisation 16,100 jobs have been lost.
How much more do ordinary Kenyans need to contribute to save this firm?