By Kenya’s High Court has declared void the government’s sale of a 15% stake in Safaricom PLC to Vodacom Group, ruling the transaction unconstitutional and ordering the shares returned to the state, with both sides now appealing the decision.
A three-judge bench comprising Justices Francis Gikonyo, Roselyne Aburili and Tabitha Ouya found the partial divestiture unconstitutional and ordered that the shareholding be immediately restored to public ownership, in a judgment delivered on September 15.
The ruling unwinds one of Kenya’s largest privatisation deals. The stake was sold to Vodacom for 204.3 billion Kenyan shillings, with the transaction completed in June 2026.
The court ordered that the 15% Safaricom shareholding be restored to the Government of Kenya, to be held on behalf of the people of Kenya, and declared the related approvals and transactions null and void.
Safaricom, East Africa’s largest telecoms operator and the owner of the M-Pesa mobile money platform, confirmed the judgment in a stock exchange filing.
“Safaricom PLC notes the High Court of Kenya’s judgment on 15th September 2026, regarding the Government of Kenya’s divestiture of 15% of its shareholding in Safaricom to Vodafone Kenya Limited and, effectively, Vodacom Group Limited, in which the Court has ruled against the divestiture,” the company said.
“Safaricom is reviewing the judgment and its implications. Given that the matter remains subject to legal processes, further updates will be provided in due course and as appropriate,” the company said, adding that it would continue serving customers in Kenya and Ethiopia.
The court found that the government had failed to meet constitutional requirements for disposing of strategic public assets. Neither the Cabinet nor the National Assembly subjected the divestiture to qualitative, meaningful public engagement as mandated by Articles 10 and 201 of the Constitution, the judges found.
The bench also found that transactional advisory services involving KCB Investment Bank Limited had been procured in contravention of Article 227 of the Constitution and provisions of the Public Procurement and Asset Disposal Act, and that the divestiture violated constitutional principles of intergenerational and intragenerational equity and sustainable development.
The judgment also quashed Sessional Paper No. 3 of 2025, the parliamentary policy instrument underpinning the proposed partial divestiture.
The deal had significantly increased Vodacom’s control over Kenya’s dominant mobile operator. The transaction, announced in December 2025 and completed in June 2026, increased Vodacom’s effective interest in Safaricom to 55%, while reducing the Kenyan government’s stake to 20%.
The deal was first announced in December 2025, when Vodacom said it had entered into an agreement with the government of Kenya to acquire 15% of Safaricom and an additional 5% from Vodafone, with the deal valued at $2.1 billion at the time.
Both the Kenyan government and Vodacom have moved swiftly to challenge the ruling. Kenya’s government and telecom operator Vodacom both plan to appeal the High Court judgment that called for reversing the sale.
Attorney General Dorcas Oduor filed a formal Notice of Appeal, signalling the government’s intention to challenge the ruling, moving the case to the Court of Appeal.
National Treasury Cabinet Secretary John Mbadi said the government disagreed with the court’s findings.
Mbadi said the government disagrees with the High Court’s conclusions and intends to pursue the case through the appellate process, with the Treasury maintaining that the divestiture was structured as a fiscal measure intended to convert part of the government’s Safaricom investment into funding for national development while leaving the state with a significant remaining shareholding.
The government’s 2026 fiscal documents had estimated proceeds of about 204 billion shillings from the share sale, alongside an upfront payment related to future dividends, with funds intended to support infrastructure spending.
Vodacom, for its part, said it would fight the ruling through the courts. Vodacom said late Tuesday it would appeal to Kenya’s Court of Appeal and apply to the High Court to stay enforcement of the judgment pending the appeal.
The transaction had already faced legal challenges before its completion. In May 2026, the High Court placed the deal on hold after petitioners challenged the sale’s constitutionality.
However, on June 26, 2026, the Court of Appeal in Nairobi granted the Attorney General’s application to lift the High Court’s conservatory order relating to the transaction, enabling the completion of the acquisition.
Vodacom has been a shareholder in Safaricom since 2017, when it acquired Vodafone Group’s indirect interest in the Kenyan operator as part of a wider restructuring of Vodafone’s African assets.
Safaricom is listed on the Nairobi Securities Exchange and is among Kenya’s most valuable companies.
Earlier this year, Safaricom’s leadership had sought to reassure investors that the sale would not disrupt operations.
Safaricom Chief Executive Peter Ndegwa told lawmakers in January that the transaction was a shareholder-to-shareholder deal in which Safaricom itself was not a participant, and would not affect the company’s control, governance or regulatory oversight.
