Former Treasury CS Ukur Yattani has defended the Uhuru administration decision over the Sh6 billion Telkom Kenya buyout.
Yattani who was summoned to Parliament said letting the Telco go, was endangering National security.
He appeared before the joint Departmental Committee on Finance and Planning, and the Committee on Communication, Information and Innovation.
Towards the end of the Uhuru administration, Treasury acquired a 60 per cent stake in Telkom Kenya from UK-based Helios Investment Partners for Sh6.09 billion, making the company fully state-owned.
However, documents tabled in Parliament show that the purchase was one of the many expenditures that the Treasury incurred without the approval from Parliament.
However, Yattani said the National Security Council approved Telkom Buyout and rejected the Airtel merger.
He said The National Security Advisory Committee advised the Security Council, which is the top security organ of the country and an organ of the constitution.
Yattani also said the Airtel merger was not viable because most Kenyans are on Safaricom network and such a merger was still a loss making venture.
He also said Telkom Kenya also complained that the Government had unprocedurally taken over its assets.
“The land along Ngong road which measures 70 acres and valued at 10 billion was taken over for the construction of a National Rugby Centre which is ongoing,” he said.
He said the directive was sent to him to prepare a memo to National Security council for the buyout.
“I was directed to approve the exit of Helios from Telkom Kenya and government to own 60 percent. I was directed to compensate a loan of 48 million dollars which had accumulated to 51 million dollars equivalent of shs 6 billion,” he said.
He added that the Cabinet memo was jointly done with Attorney General Kihara Kariuki who were prosecuting the memorandum in the National Security Council.
“The decision to buy back Telkom was not for profit but for National security reasons. The ancillary services Telkom Kenya provides outweighs the losses they make,” he said.