NAIROBI, Kenya — Former United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) Secretary-General Mukhisa Kituyi has accused President William Ruto of using the government’s decision to order Tata Chemicals Magadi to leave Kenya as leverage to pressure the company into providing campaign funds ahead of the 2027 General Election.
Speaking during an interview on Citizen TV’s JKLive, Kituyi alleged that Ruto’s move was not an outright attempt to expel Tata Chemicals but a strategy to force the company to renegotiate its agreement with the government.
“Ruto is not expelling Tata; Ruto is blackmailing a major international corporation because he wants easy money.”
Kituyi claimed the government could use Mining Cabinet Secretary Hassan Joho to negotiate with Tata Chemicals and pressure the company into accepting new terms.
“He will get his Joho backstage to go, and we will renegotiate and show Tata that if you do not accept what we are offering, we are capable of this radical decision to throw you out of here,” he stated.
Kituyi’s remarks amount to an allegation that the government’s position on Tata Chemicals is linked to political fundraising. The claim has not been independently established.
Kituyi disputes Tata’s 100-year claim
Kituyi also challenged the suggestion that Tata Chemicals itself has operated in Magadi for more than a century.
He explained that Tata acquired the interests of Imperial Chemical Industries (ICI) about a decade ago, while the company originally associated with soda ash mining in Magadi had been operating there for more than 100 years.
“Tata has not been here for 100 years. About 10 years ago, Tata bought the interest of Imperial Chemical Industries, a company that had been a conglomerate.”
Kituyi said the original company that established operations in Magadi more than a century ago eventually sold its interests to Tata when it was being separated.
His distinction was aimed at separating Tata Chemicals’ period of ownership from the longer history of industrial activity at Magadi.
Colonial contract should have been renegotiated
Kituyi acknowledged that the colonial-era agreement under which ICI established soda ash mining operations in Magadi may not have been favourable to Kenya.
However, he argued that the Kenyan government had an opportunity to renegotiate the agreement after independence but did not do so.
“It’s true that the colonial contract under which ICI set up soda ash mining in Magadi may not be the best. The Kenyan government had an opportunity at independence to renegotiate this contract, it did not,” Kituyi stated.
He said the government could now seek a fresh agreement with Tata Chemicals rather than threaten the company with expulsion.
Kituyi calls for greater local value addition
Kituyi argued that Kenya should focus on securing greater value from its mineral resources by requiring more processing and manufacturing to take place locally.
He said the government could review Tata’s existing agreement and negotiate how much value addition could be undertaken in Kenya.
“You can watch Tata and say.. under the current circumstances, we want to look at your contract afresh.”
Kituyi argued that Kenya should not remain primarily a source of raw materials while processing and value addition take place elsewhere.
He said negotiations with investors should focus on securing better terms and greater domestic economic benefits.
“Let us agree on how much value addition can be done in Kenya.”
‘This is blackmail’, Kituyi says
Kituyi strongly criticised what he described as the government’s approach to dealing with the multinational company.
He argued that disputes involving investors should be addressed through negotiations rather than abrupt threats of expulsion.
“That’s how civilised nations deal with matters of investors. Not arbitrary wake up overnight and you announce, ‘you are going.’ This is blackmail. These are attempts to get campaign money.”
Kituyi’s comments were made in the context of the government’s recent decision concerning Tata Chemicals Magadi and the wider debate over Kenya’s mineral resources, investment agreements and local value addition.
Ruto orders Tata Chemicals to leave Kenya
Kituyi’s remarks came days after President Ruto ordered Tata Chemicals Magadi to leave Kenya.
The President accused the company of holding a licence for about a century without doing enough to create jobs or establish industries in Kajiado County.
Ruto said the government would instead seek an investor capable of establishing glass and chemical manufacturing plants locally, creating employment and ensuring that more value is derived from Kenya’s mineral resources.
The President defended the government’s position as necessary to protect Kenya’s interests.
“There is no rule of law that sustains extractive, exploitative contracts that undermine the interests of the nation, the interests of the people of Kenya, or the interests of the people of Kajiado,” Ruto said on September 5, 2026.
