Keroche Breweries under siege, Tabitha

Keroche Breweries Chief Executive Tabitha Karanja is crying foul over the targeting of her multi-billion shilling brewery business in the ongoing crackdown on illicit brews.

In a statement published on the dailies, Tabitha says business at the brewery has stalled following the disabling of the factory’s equipment adding that this lockdown has costed her business billions in revenue.

In a new twist, Ms. Karanja says the Kenya Revenue Authority has also revoked the company’s excise license thus rendering it unable to produce and sell its products.

The Keroche CEO has also questioned why the Kenya Bureau of Standards is yet to complete inspection of its spirit products nearly a fortnight after a team that was led by Naivasha Member of Parliament John Kihagi stormed into the company’s premises with a view to inspecting its products.

She has further cited intimidation of the company’s distributors in Nakuru, Machakos, Murang’a and Kirinyaga counties which she has blamed on “a competitor that is hell bent on terminating Keroche’s existence”

This comes against the backdrop of the company’s investment of five billion shillings in a new brewing facility in March this year.