The Cabinet Secretary for Information Communications and Technology, Innovation and Youth Affairs has Gazetted amendments to the Policy Guidelines paragraph 6.2.4 under the heading “Equity Participation” and substituting therefore with a new paragraph as follows:

“6.2.4 Rules Equity Participation

The government encourages Kenyans to participate in the ICT sector through equity participation. It is the policy that only companies with at least thirty per centum (30%) substantive Kenyan ownership, either corporate or individual, will be licensed to provide ICT services.

For purposes of this rule:

(a)    an existing licensee with less than twenty per centum (20%) local equity ownership and has not exhausted its three (3) years grace period will be required to meet the thirty per centum (30%) local equity ownership at the end of its grace period;

(b)    an existing licensee that had met the twenty per centum (20%) local equity ownership prior to 7th August, 2020 will have two (2) years to meet the thirty per centum (30%) local equity ownership threshold with effect from the said date;

(c)     an existing licensee that had a waiver granted under the ICT Sector Policy Guidelines of 2006 will have three (3) years to meet the local equity ownership threshold with effect from the date of this Notice;

(d)    a new applicant for a licence will have three (3) years to meet the local equity ownership threshold from the date of issue of the licence;

(e)    a company registered to exclusively offer Business Process Outsourcing (BPO) Services will be exempt from this rule.

A licensee may apply to the Cabinet Secretary for extension or exemption under this guideline.

For a listed company, the equity participation rules will conform to the extant rules of the Capital Markets Authority.”

The Gazette Notice is dated 25th March, 2021.