Inside the multibillion Tata Chemicals Magadi plant Ruto ordered out of Kenya

President William Ruto has ordered Tata Chemicals Magadi Limited to leave Kenya, bringing the future of one of the country's oldest large-scale mining operations into sharp focus after more than a century of soda ash production at Lake Magadi.

Ruto announced the decision on Thursday, September 3, 2026, saying the company had operated in Kajiado for more than 100 years without doing enough to create jobs, establish industries or ensure the local community benefited from the natural resource.

“We have Lake Magadi, we have a big company, we have resources that can change Kajiado County and Kenya as a whole,” Ruto said.

The Head of State said he had instructed Tata Chemicals to leave and that the government would bring in a new investor to take over operations.

“They have not constructed anything in Kajiado, including even employing people here. I recently told them to vacate and get out of this country. Let them go. They have been taking our resources to India,” he added.

The announcement places the spotlight on a company that describes itself as Africa's largest soda ash manufacturer and one of Kenya's leading exporters.

Large-scale commercial soda ash production at Lake Magadi dates back to 1911, when the Magadi Soda Company was established during the colonial period.

The operation later passed through different corporate owners before becoming part of Tata Chemicals in 2005. Tata Chemicals Magadi Limited is now part of India's Tata Group.

The company extracts trona, a naturally occurring mineral containing sodium carbonate compounds, from the surface deposits of Lake Magadi.

The trona is processed into soda ash, which is then transported by rail to the Port of Mombasa for export.

According to Tata Chemicals, more than 95 per cent of its soda ash production is exported to markets in Southeast Asia, the Indian subcontinent, Africa and the Middle East.

Soda ash is used in the manufacture of glass, detergents and industrial chemicals, making the mineral an important industrial input beyond Kenya's borders.

The company says its Magadi operation has more than 600 employees on its payroll.

Ruto's directive follows a dispute that had already brought Tata Chemicals' mining operations to a halt.

On July 28, Mining Cabinet Secretary Hassan Joho ordered the immediate suspension of all mining operations at Tata Chemicals Magadi, citing unresolved compliance issues under Kenya's mining laws.

The government identified several outstanding matters, including royalty reconciliation and payment obligations, export reporting, mineral beneficiation, implementation of Community Development Agreements, employment and skills transfer for Kenyans, local procurement and environmental compliance.

The company subsequently said it had submitted the information and documentation requested by the Ministry and had demonstrated compliance with the applicable regulatory requirements.

It said operations remained suspended pending the Ministry's review and further direction.

The High Court later declined to lift the suspension, noting that the July 28 decision had already taken effect before Tata Chemicals moved to court.

Ruto said the government had identified a new investor to take over operations at Lake Magadi, but indicated that the new arrangement would be different from the previous model.

The incoming operator will be required to establish industries within Kajiado rather than simply extract and export the mineral.

“We have said we are bringing in a new company, and the new ruling for the new company is that they must establish a glass processing company here and also another company for processing chemicals here in Kajiado,” Ruto said.

The proposed model would tie exploitation of the Lake Magadi resource to local manufacturing and value addition.

The company says it operates Magadi Hospital, which provides subsidised healthcare to about 30,000 people in the region, while its community programmes include education, livelihoods and local enterprise initiatives.

It says 75 per cent of casual workers at the soda ash plant and all casual workers at the salt plant are locals.

Tata Chemicals has also invested in environmental and production technology, including an electric calciner at the Magadi plant intended to reduce fuel-oil consumption and carbon emissions.

However, the government's position is that these interventions have not amounted to sufficient local industrialisation, employment and value addition.

On September 3, the Democracy for the Citizens Party demanded an unconditional reversal of the suspension, arguing that the shutdown had affected hundreds of direct employees and thousands of support workers.

The party also questioned the effect of the closure on services and businesses dependent on Magadi's operations.

DCP further alleged that the government's action was connected to other mineral and commercial interests around Magadi.