If there was an exchange then they could be sold to the public BUT this feels like a set-up to force them to "sell" shares to connected folks in the DRC government.

Note the language here. It is GOU that asked for the extension of negotiations to 20th,if you know your case is weak you're not too eager to go to court/arbitration.
Also note that GOU had asked parliament for a greater amount than the Auditor quoted.
A reason for hope.
Anyway 31st May it is.

An arbitration case in London and a subsequent likely loss would not be in the best interests of the GoU which is trying to attract foreign investments or capital into its energy (oil and electricity) sector as it increases the risk factor for such investments in Uganda (some paper mentions upto almost 6% increase in cost of capital as the country gets perceived as a high risk investment where the state does not respect agreements).

A likely outcome is the goverment reverting to the original cabinet approved amount for which a loan had also already been approved of about USD 190-200Mn although this still falls short of the 234mn demand by Umeme. The Concession agreement also had a threshold of any contested amount above USD 7mn being subject to Arbitration in London. I therefore foresee a very likely London arbitration case.

It is also worth noting that it seems the Board and Management (CEO) are interested in pursuing alternative related opportunities as opposed to folding the company. The Chairman is quoted as saying:
"Zanzibar, Somalia, Sierra Leone, Nigeria, Cameroon and Tanzania – they have all come to study our model,” he said. “We may consider these offers, but first we must tidy up at home.”.......“We’ve built a very strong brand,the shareholders will decide what next — whether to wrap it up or pursue new business opportunities. Either way, Umeme’s track record remains intact.”

https://deepearthint.com...oney-at-agm-next-month/

It will be an interesting AGM as shareholders decide on way forward....wether to reinvest and take only a dividend or fold the company and cannibalize the assets, share reserves etc.

Happy Hunting

Additional observation on the NBK sale:

It seems the NBK Hive Out Agreement which retains some NBK assets and liabilities with KCB was signed 4.5 Months later (15th August) after the original sale agreement and announcement (signed 31st March). This is curious since the original terms of a sale price of 1.25 Book Value were retained despite Access Bank likely getting an opportunity to offload the NPLs (and most likely any pending NBK litigations like the Criticos case and award that forced the sale due to sinking NBK into looses) back to KCB. KCB Shareholders I believe should be given full disclosure of this hive out agreement since it's already been signed on 15th August last year prior to approving the sale.

On the other hand, retaining the NBK NPLs presents an opportunity for KCB to derive more value from the transaction if this NPLs have assets as security which can be auctioned for loan recovery.

https://kcbgroup.com/shareholder-meetings

Happy Hunting.