The executive have, through a change of law, arrogated to itself the power to sell public firms without the involvement of MPs.
The Treasury is weighed down by insolvent parastatals that are nothing more than a drain on public cash and a haven for well-connected politicos to find jobs for friends and relatives.
The decision has at one go killed the old and tired excuse of decisions to spin off public companies getting delayed or derailed by vested interest which finds expression in MPs frustrating the procedure on account of influence from either the political or business class.
Since the privatisation commission was established in 2008, only Kenya Wine Agencies and Safaricom have been privatised successfully.
That pace is too slow in an economy in which parastatals are by and large a waste of public money year on year.
The executive should also not run roughshod over the interest of stakeholders in the industries that will have been identified for sale. Some of the key stakeholders whose interests must be taken into account is hapless workers who might stand to lose life savings or hard earned pensions.
We also hope that the Treasury will use the new speedier route to hand sell the firms to competent new owners with a track record in the industries they desire.
Failure to do so might turn the whole system into a game in which well connected politicians and businessmen and women take control of public assets for a song.
The only way to allay any doubts about the transactions is to have an open and transparent tendering system and in which they bidders and their background become the subject of public scrutiny.
The adage that power corrupts and absolute power corrupts absolutely must sure ring in the minds of the bureaucrats responsible for conducting the sale.
Quote of the day: "Corruption is the biggest threat to our democracy. We must fight against it with all our might."
Jayaprakash Narayan
The Indian freedom fighter and political leader was born on October 11, 1902