Kajiado demands KSh13bn from Tata Chemicals over Magadi land rates
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Kajiado Governor Joseph Ole Lenku says Tata Chemicals Magadi owes KSh13 billion in land rates and should return part of its 200,000-plus acre holding to the Maasai community.
Kajiado County is demanding KSh13 billion from Tata Chemicals Magadi in unpaid land rates and wants part of the company's landholding returned to residents, reopening a long-running dispute over one of Kenya's largest private landholdings.
Governor Joseph Ole Lenku said in a televised interview that Tata Chemicals occupies more than 200,000 acres in Kajiado while the mineral-bearing area around Lake Magadi covers only about 11,000 acres. He said the company should return part of the land to the Maasai community for grazing and settle what he described as unpaid land rates, along with outstanding royalty and community-benefit obligations.
According to the governor, Tata's leases cover about 224,991 acres, including a 211,104-acre parcel and an 11,678-acre parcel around Lake Magadi and Lake Natron, plus a separate railway lease of about 2,209 acres. Kajiado had previously demanded KSh17.45 billion in land rates and royalties from Tata for 2013 to 2018, but the Court of Appeal ruled in the company's favour in October after finding the rates had not complied with the Rating Act, the Valuation for Rating Act and the Constitution.
The new demand comes amid a wider government review of the Magadi operation. Mining Cabinet Secretary Hassan Joho formed a joint technical committee with Tata executives on September 8 to examine mineral beneficiation and in-country value addition, outstanding community benefits and royalty obligations, unresolved land matters, and whether multiple mineral extraction companies should be allowed into the area. It followed President William Ruto's September 3 order for Tata to end its operations in Kenya.
Tata Chemicals, which has produced soda ash at Magadi since 1911 and took over the operation in 2005, says it respects the authority of the Kenyan government and remains committed to resolving the outstanding matters through legal and regulatory channels. The company says its operations support about 500 employees and roughly 30,000 people directly or indirectly through water, healthcare and education programmes.
A separate public-interest petition by Magadi resident Francis Awino challenging any resumption of mining by Tata is due to be heard by the High Court on November 18, while Justice W Musyoka recently declined to temporarily lift the government-ordered suspension of the company's operations.