New bill seeks to prioritise Kenyan jobs, goods in foreign firms

Laikipia County Woman Representative Jane Kagiri, the mover of the bill, says it intends to reshape how foreign companies operate in Kenya by prioritizing local workers, goods, and services in a bid to curb what she says is massive economic leakage.

The proposed Local Content Bill of 2025 aims to establish a legal framework compelling foreign firms operating in Kenya to give preference to Kenyan labor, locally produced goods, as well as local service providers. 

Kagiri argues that the absence of such a law has allowed billions of shillings to flow out of the country annually, depriving the local economy of jobs and growth.

The bill proposes a 60 per cent uptake of local goods and services, an 80 per cent uptake of local force, and 100 per cent uptake of agricultural products in production.

"When you look at all these multinationals they claim inclusivity, they claim sustainability, they claim all these good things, we are only helping them to execute that because as a country we can’t keep running in goodwill...that if a person wants to give us business is when they will give us...we need to have a law that is going to govern these investments and I believe every investor coming into our country would want to find a country with ready rule," says Kagiri.

The bill is also proposing the formation of the Local Content Authority to enforce the law, with those who break it set to be penalised a minimum of Ksh.100 million.

It also seeks to define what constitutes a local versus a foreign company, a move that the lawmakers say is critical in closing loopholes that allow multinationals to bypass local participation requirements.

"Safaricom, EABL and BAT...when we look at the profits that they repatriate, they repatriate Ksh.59 billion shillings per year. Llet me give you another scenario, let’s implement my 60 per cent proposal and they will retain Ksh.35 billion and those are only 3 companies I’m speaking of...so picture if we are speaking of 100 companies, what at the end of the day would we retain so if you call Ksh.10 billion a scandal, me I’m calling this a Ksh.1 trillion scandal per year," noted Kagiri.

The push for the legislation comes as efforts intensify to resuscitate the manufacturing sector with proponents of the bill noting that it will aid the “Buy Kenya, Build Kenya” campaign.

If passed, the Local Content Bill is expected to mark a shift in Kenya’s investment landscape, signaling a tougher stance on foreign participation while prioritizing domestic economic empowerment, a trend that the legislator argues will cascade to the issuance of work permit with only those with skills not available in the country being eligible to apply.