President William Ruto orders Indian chemicals giant to leave, accusing it of failing to deliver enough benefits…reports Africa Daily News Desk
Kenyan President William Ruto has ordered Tata Chemicals to leave the country, accusing the Indian-owned company of failing to deliver sufficient economic benefits despite operating in Kenya for decades.
Ruto said Tata Chemicals Magadi had focused on exporting soda ash rather than investing in local industries capable of creating jobs and adding value to Kenya’s natural resources.
According to a report by the BBC, the President told the company to “pack up and leave”, saying the government had identified new investors to take over its operations at Lake Magadi.
Speaking during a visit to Kajiado County, where the company’s main operations are based, Ruto accused Tata Chemicals of failing to invest adequately in the local economy during its long presence in the country.
“Tata Chemicals Magadi has had a contract for 100 years, and they have done nothing. I told them the other day to pack up and leave,” Ruto said.
“They have not built anything in Kajiado, they have not built any factory in Kajiado,” he added.
The Kenyan government is seeking investors who would process the country’s mineral resources locally and establish industries, including glass and chemical manufacturing, rather than exporting raw or semi-processed materials.
Tata Chemicals said it respected the Kenyan government’s position and remained committed to resolving outstanding issues through legal and regulatory channels.
The company, part of India’s Tata Group, operates at Lake Magadi, around 120km southwest of the Kenyan capital Nairobi. It extracts trona from the lake and processes it into soda ash, also known as sodium carbonate.
Soda ash is widely used in glass manufacturing, detergents, chemicals, water treatment, textiles and paper production.
Tata Chemicals Magadi is one of Kenya’s largest mineral exporters and Africa’s biggest soda ash producer. The company exports hundreds of thousands of tonnes annually to markets including India, Southeast Asia, the Middle East and other parts of Africa.
Kenya is the world’s fourth-largest producer of natural soda ash and accounts for around one per cent of global production.
The dispute comes amid growing pressure from the Kenyan government for foreign companies operating in the country’s extractive industries to increase local investment and processing.
Ruto’s administration has increasingly promoted value addition, arguing that Kenya should derive greater economic benefits from its natural resources instead of exporting them with limited domestic processing.
Tata Chemicals reported around 245,000 tonnes of soda ash sales and turnover of $78.7 million in its 2024 accounts, the BBC reported. The company employs approximately 500 people and says its community programmes support around 30,000 people in the Magadi area through initiatives involving water, healthcare, education and infrastructure.
Despite those investments, Ruto maintained that the company’s long-term presence had not delivered enough development to Kajiado County.
The President said replacement investors had been identified, although details of the companies and the proposed transition have not yet been made public.
The dispute places one of Kenya’s oldest foreign-owned industrial operations at the centre of a growing debate over foreign investment, resource ownership and how African countries can secure greater value from their natural resources.
