The ongoing tussle between Keroche Breweries Limited and the Kenya Revenue Authority appeared to take a new twist Friday after Brewer’s Chief Executive Officer Tabitha Karanja moved to court seeking the arrest of KRA Director General James Mburu.
Karanja, also the founder of the alcoholic beverages manufacturer, wants the judiciary to order the immediate arrest of Mburu over his failure to abide by a court order issued on July 14, 2022, requiring him to facilitate the reopening of the brewer’s factory in Naivasha.
Karanja says the decision by THE KRA boss to disregard and disobey a court order amounts to a direct challenge and dare of the authority of the court and asked the court to punish Mburu with a jail term.
“This honourable court be pleased to commit, James Githii Mburu, the contemnor herein to imprisonment for a period of six months for disobeying and being in contempt of orders of this Honourable court issued on 14th July 2022,” she said in her application
On this date, Karanja says KRA was supposed to unseal the packaging line, and the stores and reactivate the Exercisable Goods Management System at Keroche Breweries Processing plant in Naivasha and generally allow her company to carry on with normal business.
She lamented that with the continued closure of her factory, courtesy of the actions of KRA, she risks suffering huge losses including Kshs.350 Million from 87,500 liters of beer that are filtered and ready for packaging and 6 tanks of beer that are ready for packaging and filtration.
According to Karanja failure to reopen the factory will also lead to the loss of raw materials including malted barley, sorghum, and hops as well as other finished products already in the stores.
She has also cited another Ksh. 350 Million to be lost in monthly salaries and operational costs of utilities and losses by way of accruing interests from loans advanced by various financial institutions such as ABSA, Equity, and Family Bank.
Another one of her biggest worries is the loss of market share occasioned by her company’s absence in the market.
