Kenyans Lose Jobs As KRA Shuts Down Keroche Breweries

By Owino Nyakiti

Keroche Breweries CEO, Ms. Tabitha Karanja in a past interview. (PHOTO: Courtesy)

The Kenya Revenue Authority (KRA) has shut down troubled Keroche Breweries over Sh. 332 million tax arrears. The shut down is expected to render hundreds of Kenyans jobless as a result.

The brewer was shut down by KRA in December 2021 but reopened during the festive season after the management entered into an agreement with the taxman.

By January this year, Keroche was grasping on straws as its financial crisis worsened. Not only did it have salary arrears of over two months but also had seriously defaulted on a tax repayment plan with the KRA.

Following the shut down, Keroche’s Chief Executive Officer, Tabitha Karanja, has pleaded with President Uhuru Kenyatta to intervene and salvage the company from total collapse, saying efforts to get an audience with the KRA commissioner General had hit a snag. “We are sure that this issue can be sorted amicably as we are ready to pay the required taxes if KRA opens up our brewery,” she said.

She added that the pandemic had taken a heavy toll on her business leading to the current problems. “To be candid, the ripple effect of the disease greatly affected our tax obligation and this resulted in arrears amounting to Sh. 270 million."

Keroche and the taxman have been in a tag of war over a Sh. 9.1 billion tax dispute. The courts ruled that Keroche should pay KRA Sh. 500 million as the hearing went on. However, Keroche protested that it could not raise the amount and asked for an out of court settlement. KRA and Keroche then entered into an alternative dispute agreement over the dispute.