Exactly who owns the Kenya government-driven undersea cable, the East African Marine Cable System.

That is the question that no one has answered appropriately.

Another million-dollar question is: How did a new shareholder come on board, and how did two key players in the project allocate themselves additional shares?

Was due process, such as competitive bidding, followed?

Teams is co-owned by the Kenya government and local private sector players. But there are conflicting statements on this by various stakeholders.

The latest is a statement by Teams board chairman Michael Joseph refuting claims of impropriety in the sale and allocation of shares.

He termed reports appearing in the press as premature and presumptive.

“The overall shareholding structure is still intact and reflects the objectives of the Kenyan government,” he said.

Apparently, some investors, notably the smaller ones, did not pay up their shares and have been kicked out after the expiry of the deadline to July 14.

They include Flashcom, Africa Fibrenet Uganda, Iquip Limited and Inhand, who held 1.25 per cent each with a total value of Ksh 400 million ($5 million) or 5 per cent shares.

Their holding has since been taken up on a pro-rata basis by key players Safaricom and Telkom, who have increased their shareholding from 20 per cent to 22.5 per cent each.

Iquip Ltd has since gone to court to seek legal redress. Iquip and Inhand are both associated with Brian Longwe, a regional IT consultant who had hoped to use the capacity to connect up Tanzania.

Other unconfirmed reports indicate that only three players are recognised internationally as shareholders — the government of Kenya, Etisalat and Altech.

This implies that the local players own the Teams cable through the Kenya government, whose stake has gone down to about 76.5 per cent following the sale of an 8.5 stake of the initial 85 per cent share to Altech.

Industry observers are now questioning the government’s decision to introduce another player at this time.

Legally, as some have pointed out, Teams International becomes Teams Kenya’s parent company. Where was it incorporated?

From the start, according Mr Joseph (who is also the chief executive officer of Safaricom), the Teams cable had a two-tier structure that provides for joint ownership between the government of Kenya and Etisalat of UAE.

During the initial stages of the project, the government of Kenya, through the Ministry of Information and Communication, entered into an agreement with Etisalat to design and construct a submarine fibre optic cable from Fujairah to Mombasa.

Under the shareholding arrangement, the ownership of Teams was agreed at 85 per cent government of Kenya and 15 per cent Etisalat.

This is the first-tier ownership structure.

The project commenced in 2007 and was initially funded by the Kenya government and Etisalat, according to the ownership percentage.

The second tier of ownership resulted when the government sold part of its stake to local and regional investors, retaining only 20 per cent.

“As a principal of the Teams project, the ownership of shareholding is directly proportionate to the equivalent ownership of Teams’ share of capacity on the cable system,” said Mr Joseph.

“The result of the two-tier ownership is that, because Teams Ltd owns 85 per cent of the cable system, shareholders of Teams Ltd are entitled to their proportionate ownership of the 85 per cent of the total capacity of the cable system...” he said.

Other shareholders are Essar Telecom Kenya, 10 per cent; Kenya Data Networks, 10 per cent; Wananchi Telecoms, 5 per cent; Access Kenya, 1.25 per cent; and Jamii Telecommunications, 1.25 per cent.

The unallocated shares stood at 7.5 per cent.