Statement by Tabitha Kabitha in Regards to Keroche Breweries Ltd:

It pains me when I see someone who went to school but refuse to reason, research and apply logic to matters just because they have a platform that they use to misinform the people of Kenya and intimidate people who are trying to play part in building the economy of our lovely Kenya.

I saw someone trying to be relevant and talking about kiosks. I would like to ask them whether they really know what it takes to build a company like Keroche in an environment that is not conducive? Because they believe they can intimidate anyone who has a different political ideology, why not do something that is worth being a point of discussion.

For the public’s information Keroche is the second largest brewery in Kenya with the latest State of the Art and First Class Technology . It has two beer packaging lines of 40,000 bottles per hour. This line was opened officially by Hon. CS Aden Mohammed when he was CS for industrialisation. The second line is the one for 15,000 bottles per hour and this was officially opened by His Right Honourable PM Raila Odinga. This in total equals 55,000 bottle per hour in total capacity , and if the brewery operates at full capacity, with 121.85 excise duty on beer per litre =56,964,875 per day and 1,481,086,750 per month and 17,773,041,000 KES per year as tax to the exchequer.

For Spirits,our filling speed is 10K bottles per hour and at full capacity, and with excise duty of spirits being KES 278.70/litre,tax per day=ksh11,114,800,tax per month=KES 278.7m and for a year = 3,344,400,000ksh. This line was officially opened by Hon. Moses Wetangula when he was the Minister for Trade.

Projected annual tax would be =KES 21b. This is enough to finance TWO big Counties in Kenya NBC . For your information, as we are bragging in Kenya as Keroche breweries being the second largest brewery, If you are in the USA, Europe or South Africa, this would be termed as one of the smallest brewery in that part of the world. My hope and prayer would be, with anyone who has a platform to inform Kenyans, with the little power of pen and paper they think they have, they would push for local businesses and in particular on how this brewery and other local industries would be given a level playing ground and a conducive environment to grow and produce at 100% capacity and hence working on their expansion for the benefit of this country. Mark you, our beer products are naturally brewed and are sugar free and are among the best in the world. Kindly note that our products have won and continue to win global awards and our products are brewed by one of the finest global brew master. He is one of the TOP ten in the world with over 40 years brewing experience

Furthermore, Our Crescent Vodka, Crescent Gin, Crescent Brandy and Crescent Whisky are all TRIPPLE distilled and are globally competitive.

It is important that the public knows my exact role at Keroche. I am not a brewer, am not an engineer. Am but an administrator. So how is our company run like a kiosk when we have top notch professionals in every department managing the brewery. We should NOT hate on people running kiosks as they push to achieve their dreams in owning a big brand like Keroche and others. We should not undermine Kenyan professionals who are running big brands like Bidco, Keroche and others who are tirelessly working hard to put the brands on a global map.

Keroche Salaries alone are above 20M per month. Imagine the ripple effect to other partners in distribution and supply chain. This is a value addition industry that is supporting the whole country. People should equip themselves with information before talking.

It is important to have respect. The President is my friend and my brother and I respect him very much. We should NOT mention the Head Of State any in Keroche matters because our issues are in the public domain and just to reiterate, for the past Twenty Five Years we have not had a level playing ground and we have had punitive taxation on KEROCHE products while zero rating Multinational products which are our competitors.

I welcome you all to make time and come visit the brewery for a tour of a lifetime experience that will take you a minimum of two hours and have the experience of sampling our global accredited products so that, we just don’t hate our local industries but have the opportunity to learn and educate Kenyans and the world at large. Our common enemy is poverty and the only way to eliminate this poverty is to fight for local industries and entrepreneurship, so that we can grow jobs for the youth and grow our economy. Only we can build Kenya.

Tabitha Kabitha
Designate Senator, Nakuru City.