Kenyan President orders Tata Chemicals out of the country

TATA CHEMICALS, the chemical manufacturing subsidiary of Tata Group, has failed to benefit Kenya after more than two decades of operating in the country, according to the President William Ruto.

Ruto criticised the company for exporting soda ash from its Magadi plant in the town of Kajiado instead of processing the product, used heavily in the glass and chemical manufacturing industry, locally.

Tata Chemicals has operated the Magadi plant since 2005, and exports more than 350,000t/y of soda ash, also known as sodium carbonate. The company processes soda ash from the natural mineral trona, which it extracts from Lake Magadi, a pink-tinted soda lake located in the Kenyan Rift Valley, around 120km southwest of Nairobi.

Kenya is the fourth largest producer of natural soda ash in the world and Tata Chemicals is the country’s largest mineral exporter.

Despite Tata’s extensive work in the region, Ruto has told the company to “pack up and leave”.

He said: “They have not built anything in Kajiado, they have not built any factory ​in Kajiado."

The President’s comments come five weeks after Tata Chemicals was ordered to suspend its operations at the Magadi site by the mining minister, who said the company failed to meet mining regulations.

Tata said that they respect the authority of the Kenyan Government and are “committed to constructive engagement through the appropriate legal and regulatory channels” to resolve the spat. 

The company said: “Our priority continues to be the well-being of our employees, the Magadi community, our stakeholders in Kenya and the continued economic development of Kenya.”