'Didn't benefit country': Kenya ousts Tata Chemicals

NAIROBI: Kenya's President William Ruto said on Thursday he had ordered Tata Chemicals to stop its operations as its presence had failed to benefit the country. Fresh investors would take over its mining rights for minerals that are processed into soda ash. Ruto said he asked a unit of the Mumbai-based company "to pack and go" because it has been exporting soda ash rather than using it at local facilities to make glass and chemicals. "That Tata company... had that contract for 100 years yet it has not built anything in Kajiado," Ruto said of the county that's home to Lake Magadi, from which the firm has extracted minerals to make soda ash for two decades. "They take our resource to India and other places." Kenya has produced the resource since 1911 and Tata bought the operation from Brunner Mond Ltd in 2005. Ruto's statement refers to the century-long concessions originally granted to its predecessor. Tata Chemicals declined to comment. Ruto’s remarks came five weeks after Kenya’s mining ministry directed Tata Chemicals Magadi Ltd to suspend operations, citing its failure to make royalty payments and to meet other regulatory requirements. “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?” “Come what may, because they have been unable to do what is required, I have told them to pack and go,” Ruto said. Local reports said the opposition slammed Ruto’s decision, accusing him of ousting Tata Chemicals to bring in other companies associated with his govt allies to explore oil in the area. Democracy for Citizens Party said 500 direct employees and thousands of support workers had been rendered jobless overnight due to the closure. Kajiado governor Joseph Ole Lenku said the mining rights expired in 2023. “Those who we will licence to extract the resource must build a huge processing facility here to produce glass. They should build a big factory to produce chemicals here,” he told supporters at a rally.