A long-running dispute over land rates, mineral royalties and community benefits in Kajiado has put Tata Chemicals Magadi at the centre of renewed scrutiny, with the county government claiming it is owed Sh13 billion in unpaid land rates.
The company occupies about 224,991 acres in Kajiado, according to Governor Joseph Ole Lenku, who said its original contract dates back to 1924 and was granted as a 99-year lease that expired in 2023.
Speaking on Citizen TV on Sunday, the governor said the county had gone to court over the land rates and obtained a ruling confirming its right to levy charges on parts of the land occupied by the company.
“For us as a county government, we are supposed to get our land rates. Tata Chemicals Magadi, I have said this before, is the only company that does not pay for land rates,” Lenku said.
“They owe the county government Sh13 billion as we talk now,” he added.
Lenku said the dispute went beyond the unpaid rates, arguing that the Magadi community had not benefited sufficiently from the extraction of minerals in the area.
He said the community remained among the poorest in Kajiado despite the mineral resources being extracted from the region.
Under the mining framework he cited, Lenku said 70% of royalties go to the national government, 20% to the county and 10% to the local community.
The governor also defended President William Ruto’s recent decision to address the future of Tata Chemicals Magadi, saying he had raised the issue with successive administrations.
“In 2019, we stormed the Magadi Tata Chemicals industry with 5,000 strong community members,” he said, adding that the county had pursued the matter through the courts for years.
Lenku said the national government’s plan to advertise the contract would provide an opportunity to address the dispute.
On the transfer of Amboseli National Park management to Kajiado County, Governor Lenku the county was yet to receive its expected share of tourism revenue.
The Kajiado County boss said Kajiado was supposed to receive 50% of the shareable revenue from July but had not received the money because of ongoing court proceedings.
He put Amboseli’s annual revenue at between Sh2 billion and Sh2.5 billion, meaning the county’s 50% share would amount to about Sh1 billion to Sh1.25 billion.
Lenku said he expected the matter to be resolved before the end of the year.
He also disputed claims that chemicals used by tomato farmers were responsible for the recent deaths of elephants in the Amboseli ecosystem.
Lenku said researchers had instead linked the deaths to a type of grass that can affect livestock after periods of excessive rainfall.