Kenyan President William Ruto has ordered Tata Chemicals to halt its operations at Lake Magadi in Kajiado, accusing the Indian company of failing to deliver enough investment, jobs and industrial development to the region despite operating there for more than a century. Speaking during a development tour of Kajiado in southern Kenya on Thursday, he said the government would bring in new investors to replace Tata Chemicals and require them to establish manufacturing facilities in the country.
“That TATA company … had that contract for 100 years. They have not built anything in Kajiado, they have not built any factory in Kajiado,” Ruto said.
“We have said we will bring a new company and… they should put a big glass company here in Kajiado. And another company to make chemicals here in Kajiado. Are we slaves to other people?”
Insisting that Kenya’s natural wealth should benefit Kenyans first, Ruto argued that resources should not simply be extracted and shipped elsewhere for processing. He said local communities must see tangible benefits, including jobs and investment, from the resources found in their region.
According to Kenya’s The Star, Ruto said the decision was driven inadequate local investment by Tata Chemicals and a lack of value addition within Kajiado. He said Lake Magadi and the county’s other resources could serve as the foundation for industrialisation, job creation and economic growth if processing was carried out locally.
The Kenyan President also questioned why Kenya should continue sending its raw materials abroad instead of processing them domestically and retaining a larger share of the economic value. The president said his administration wanted resource development to generate employment, manufacturing activity, tax revenue and wider economic opportunities for host communities.
The government’s decision has also triggered criticism from Kenya’s Democracy for the Citizens Party (DCP), which alleged that the closure was linked to President Ruto’s business interests in the area. According to the Citizen Digital, the party called the step a “state-sponsored economic sabotage” and claimed it could affect the livelihoods of more than 100,000 residents in and around Magadi.
The DCP alleged that the area contains significant deposits of lithium and has oil exploration potential, claims that were used by the party to question the government’s intentions.
“The truth of the matter is, there are huge deposits worth trillions of shillings of LITHIUM metals underneath the Magadi area. Further, there are huge oil prospects in the same vicinity within which TATA Chemicals Limited operates,” the party said in a statement. The party also accused Ruto of seeking to remove Tata Chemicals to facilitate other interests in the region.
The opposition party has called for the closure order to be reversed, warning of job losses and disruption to infrastructure and essential services in the Magadi area. It also raised concerns over the supply of soda ash used in water treatment, arguing that a prolonged disruption could affect Nairobi and surrounding areas.
Kenya’s Mining Cabinet Secretary Hassan Joho has said the ministry had attempted to engage with the company for years but accused it of remaining non-compliant. The High Court is scheduled to hear on November 18 a petition challenging the possible resumption of mining operations at Lake Magadi.
Kenya’s leading media platform Citizen Digital reported that the order follows a government directive issued in late July, when Tata Chemicals said its Kenyan unit had been instructed to suspend operations at the Magadi Soda factory and halt exports of soda ash. Tata Chemicals has operated at Lake Magadi since 1911, when the business began as the Magadi Soda Company. Tata Chemicals later acquired ownership in 2005.
The company extracts and processes trona from Lake Magadi to produce natural soda ash, or sodium carbonate. The industrial mineral is used in products including glass, detergents and chemicals, as well as in water treatment. The operation has been an important export business for Kenya, with annual shipments reported at more than 350,000 tonnes to markets including India, Southeast Asia and the Middle East.