'This is blackmail': Mukhisa Kituyi claims Ruto seeking campaign money from Tata Chemicals

Speaking during an interview on Citizen TV’s JKLive, Kituyi said Ruto’s decision to order Tata Chemicals Magadi to leave Kenya was not an outright expulsion but an attempt to pressure the company into renegotiating its agreement with the government.

“Ruto is not expelling Tata; Ruto is blackmailing a major international corporation because he wants easy money. He will get his Joho backstage to go, and we will renegotiate and show Tata that if you do not accept what we are offering, we are capable of this radical decision to throw you out of here,” he stated.

Kituyi, however, challenged the claim that Tata Chemicals itself had operated in Magadi for 100 years, explaining that the company acquired the interests of Imperial Chemical Industries (ICI) about a decade ago.

“Tata has not been here for 100 years. About 10 years ago, Tata bought the interest of Imperial Chemical Industries, a company that had been a conglomerate. But when it was separating, the original company which had come to Magadi more than 100 years ago sold its interests to Tata,” Kituyi stated.

He acknowledged that the original colonial-era agreement governing soda ash mining in Magadi may not have been favourable to Kenya, but said the government had an opportunity to renegotiate it at independence.

“It’s true that the colonial contract under which ICI set up soda ash mining in Magadi may not be the best. The Kenyan government had an opportunity at independence to renegotiate this contract, it did not,” Kituyi stated.

According to Kituyi, the government could instead have sought to renegotiate the terms of the agreement and demand greater local value addition without threatening the company with expulsion.

“You can watch Tata and say.. under the current circumstances, we want to look at your contract afresh. We don’t think you can forever be the source of raw materials, extraction, and value addition in India. Let us agree on how much value addition can be done in Kenya,” Kituyi stated.

“That’s how civilised nations deal with matters of investors. Not arbitrary wake up overnight and you announce, ‘you are going.’ This is blackmail. These are attempts to get campaign money."

Kituyi's remarks come days after Ruto ordered Tata Chemicals Magadi to leave Kenya, accusing the company of holding a licence for about a century without doing enough to create jobs or establish industries in Kajiado.

The President said the government would instead seek an investor who would establish glass and chemical manufacturing plants locally, create employment and ensure greater value is derived from Kenya’s mineral resources.

“There is no rule of law that sustains extractive, exploitative contracts that undermine the interests of the nation, the interests of the people of Kenya, or the interests of the people of Kajiado,” Ruto stated on September 5, 2026.