Top Kenyan beer-maker Keroche Breweries has sacked 370 employees in a move meant to solve the protracted tax dispute with KRA. The company’s ongoing dispute with KRA started in May, and this has found Keroche at the verge of shutting its operations completely following issues of unpaid taxes.
The company announced that it was going to sent the employees on unpaid compulsory leave, citing that all the operational funds had dried up. KRA has stated that it will not reopen the brewer until all the taxes are paid. The company CEO Tabitha Karanja admitted that 370 employees would be sacked.
She explained that the company didn’t have enough money to continue operations, hence the reason why they took the initiative. Tabitha Karanja argued that the the decision of Kenya Revenue Authority to close the brewing company was very illegal, and therefore, the management was going to fight until the end. A notice that was issued internally by the company required the employees to proceed on an unpaid leave. A section of the internal memo read,
“In this regard, the management has had to make a difficult decision to release all employees from work. We shall only retain the service of a few persons from the quality department and engineering maintenance.”
The CEO also explained that due to financial challenges, the company was unable to raise a monthly payment of Ksh. 20 million to its employees, hence the reason why all the employees had to proceed home. KRA officials argued that the company had not paid a cent of taxes since March.
Keroche Breweries is undoubtedly one of the biggest beer brewing companies, and its closure is a huge blow to the sacked employees and on some extent, consumers who were dependent on supplies from the company. However, the management is hopeful in resuming operations soon.
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