Relief as court bars Kajiado County from closing Tata Chemicals over Sh17 billion debt
The court ruled that the closure was illegal, irregular, and arbitrary and that the county administration should be restrained from closing or interfering with Tata’s usage of the premises.

The Kajiado county government has been barred from closing, locking, blocking, or interfering with Tata Chemicals premises, business operations, gates, and properties in Magadi in a long-standing dispute over defaulted payment of rates.
High Court Judge Loice Komingoi issued an injunction restraining the county from trespassing on the factory premises which they had closed last year due to the defaulted payments.
The court ruled that the closure was illegal, irregular, and arbitrary and that the County administration should be restrained from closing or interfering with Tata’s usage of the premises.
“Pending the hearing and determination of this suit an order is hereby issued restraining the Defendants/ Respondents in the counterclaim by themselves or their servants, agents, and or assigns from trespassing, entering, remaining or closing, locking, blocking or in any other manner interfering with any of the Defendants/Applicant’s premises business operations, factories gates and properties situated in Magadi, in the County of Kajiado,” the judge said in her orders.
This comes as from January last year, Tata Chemicals, formerly Magadi Soda, has been fighting attempts by Kajiado county government to auction the mining factory over Sh17 billion in unpaid debts.
The company has maintained that they cannot pay the money sought by the county government.
In 2019, the court had directed that the two parties should seek an out-of-court settlement within six months but Tata moved to the Court of Appeal.
In January last year, Regional Business Connect using a letter dated January 15, 2023, had moved to auction and close the factory on behalf of the County urging that the Soda Ash company had refused to pay the said land rates to its client.
According to advocates representing the company, the actions by Kajiado County were extrajudicial and illegal noting that a debt collection company had no mandate to close the business.
With an annual turnover of Sh5 billion, Tata Chemicals is the largest producer of Soda Ash in Africa and also distributes Tata motor vehicles.
It occupies 224,991 acres of land in Kajiado West Sub-county.