Kenya Association of Manufacturers (KAM) will engage the taxman to help resolve its stand-off with Keroche Breweries.
This follows a meeting between KAM and Keroche chief executive Tabitha Karanja on Monday, which could save more than 250 direct jobs at the Naivasha based brewer.
"From the meeting, it was agreed that Keroche Breweries will activate their membership and submit the details and documentation of the issues raised, to enable KAM to engage Kenya Revenue Authority on the same," CEO Phyllis Wakiaga said in a statement.
Wakiaga says the engagement will seek a "mutually agreeable solution to the impasse that saves jobs and ensures all due taxes are settled."
Keroche's plant has been closed four times in the past three months over Sh322 million tax arrears accrued from February last year.
The most recent shutting of operations was on February 1, with over two million litres of beer worth about Sh 512 million still held in its tanks.
According to management, efforts to seek a stable period to clear the arrears, based on its cashflow, has proved futile.
On December 7, KRA closed the factory and issued agency notices to 36 banks in Kenya, a move management says completely collapsed all its business operations since it could neither produce, sell nor access any financing from any of the banks to assist in settling the arrears.
Last Friday, Karanja requested for the re-opening of the plant to prevent losses, while asking the taxman to give the company a 12-month grace period.
Its closure has impacted hundreds of both direct jobs and indirect ones in the distribution chain across the country.
Karanja had on Friday raised concerns over failure by industry lobby groups to intervene.
"Where is @KAM_Kenya to speak on such issues we are going through? Where are the bodies that are meant to protect workers when their jobs are threatened?," she posted on twitter.
Wakiaga however told The Star the brewer had not raised its issues with the association, but was willing to take up the matter.
In its recently launched "Manufacturing Manifesto 2022-2027", KAM has highlighted the impact of the regulatory burden on manufacturing businesses, and proposed ways to build an effective and pro-industry national taxation structure.
"Manufacturing is an important revenue stream to the country, and it is important to seek ways to keep businesses operating and enable them to offer employment, especially as they work towards post-Covid recovery," Wakiaga sid yesterday.
