An appeals court has lifted an order that temporarily blocked the Kenyan government’s plan to sell a 15% stake in Safaricom, the country’s largest telecoms firm, to South Africa’s Vodacom. If the transaction goes through, Vodacom’s ownership of East Africa’s largest telecoms company will rise from about 40% to roughly 55%, making it the majority shareholder.
Safaricom is more than Kenya’s biggest telco; it also operates M-PESA, one of the world’s most successful mobile money platforms, which over 40 million Kenyans now use daily to send money, pay bills, save, and run businesses. The Kenyan government agreed to the sale in December 2025, saying the money would help fund roads, airports, power projects, and other infrastructure through a new National Infrastructure Fund. But in March, a court paused the deal after petitioners argued that Safaricom, as a strategic public asset, should not be sold to a foreign company without greater public participation and transparency.
The appeals court has now allowed the transaction to proceed while the wider legal dispute continues. The Kenyan government would have faced a growing budget problem if the sale remained frozen, especially after earmarking the proceeds for infrastructure spending. Vodacom moves a step closer to gaining majority control of one of Africa’s most profitable telecoms companies and the mobile money business at the centre of Kenya’s digital economy.