Brookside Shuts Down Factory As Businesses Struggle

President Uhuru Kenyatta’s family company, Brookside Dairy is shutting down its Taita Taveta regional factory as the economy continues to struggle.

Brookside Dairies now joins a list of other companies in Kenya that have had to either fire employees or close down the business due to the high cost of doing business in Kenya.

The Kenyatta’s family company made the announcement on Thursday, saying it had opted to close down the Taita Taveta regional factory effective March 1, 2020.

The company says the Taita Taveta regional factory has been making losses and that the business in the region can no longer be sustained.

The factory is located in Wundanyi Town and had a capacity of processing at least 10,000 liters of milk daily. The company had also employed hundreds of locals who are now going to be jobless.

The closing down of Brookside Dairies, Taita Taveta regional factory is going to hit hard on the local dairy farmers. For years, the company had been buying at least 45 percent of the total milk production in the region.

The company has been paying at least 50 million shillings annually to the farmers in the region for supplying it with raw milk. In 2017, farmers were paid 52 million shillings.

Companies Shutting Down, People Getting Fired

The year 2019 was characterized by the mass loss of jobs among Kenyans. During the year, tens of companies opted to the firing of employees in an effort to cut down on costs, and to remain afloat.

In 2019 alone, it is estimated that at least 25,000 people were fired from their jobs as companies struggled to sustain their businesses.

Some companies have shut down with the most hit being the hotel industry where several hotels are going under the hammer of auctioneers over the piling of debts.

Businesses have been blaming the high cost of doing business in Kenya coupled with high and numerous taxes from the Kenya Revenue Authority (KRA).

READ: Kenya Returns Milk Worth Ksh.27 Million To Uganda in Deepening Row