Wednesday, March 27, 2024 – Legislators have raised an alarm over the massive exit of foreign companies from Kenya to the neighboring countries due to high taxes imposed by President William Ruto.
The Parliamentary Committee on Trade, Industry, and
Cooperatives, led by Chairperson James Gakuya, faulted Ruto’s government's
strenuous policies that have made private companies exit Kenya to set up shop in other markets.
While holding a consultative forum with the Ministry of
Trade, the Committee attributed the recent trend of investor flight to
hiked taxes and a tough operating business environment.
The legislators expressed concern that the companies are
leaving Kenya for neighbouring East African countries such as Tanzania and
Ethiopia where the MPs claimed the companies enjoy an overall better business
environment including; better taxation policies, affordable electricity, and
stable regulatory environments.
The committee chairperson while criticising the government
revealed several Kenyans had been rendered jobless after private companies
closed their Kenyan operations.
“Industrial area was a booming area, but today it is
deserted. You cannot even be able to know whether that is the industrial area
we all knew," Gakuya lamented.
The committee chairperson who was speaking to the press
after the consultative forum noted while some migrated to the neighbouring
countries, others migrated to China.
Gakuya noted the companies migrated to China to save on
operational costs and ease the process of importing raw materials for their
industries.
The Kenyan DAILY POST
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