Job loss crisis looms as state shuts more than 200 companies
In addition to the 202 companies that have already been struck off, the registrar has also put other 116 businesses on notice for intended dissolution.
A major job loss crisis is looming in the country, following the announcement of the closure of over 200 companies by the government.
In a notice published in the Kenya Gazette dated January 3, 2025, the Registrar of Companies, Joyce Koech, revealed that a total of 202 companies have been officially dissolved.
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"Pursuant to section 897 (4) of the Companies Act, 2015, it is notified for information of the general public that the following companies are dissolved and their names have been struck off the Register of Companies with effect from the date of publication of this notice," the notice read.
The full list of the dissolved companies may be found in the January 3 issue of the Gazette Notice numbers 94, 95 and 96 from page 16 to page 19.
However, the registrar did not specify the reasons for the dissolution of the companies, which span various sectors, including both commodity and service industries.
Ideally, the mass closure triggers alarm within the business community and among workers who are now facing uncertainty in their livelihoods.
Additional businesses
In addition to the 202 companies that have already been struck off, the registrar has also put other 116 businesses on notice for intended dissolution.
They have been marked for removal from the Register of Companies with a grace period of three months from the date of the gazette notice.
During this time, Koech notes that individuals are invited to show cause as to why these businesses should not be dissolved.
Notably, the potential closures of these 116 companies could further deepen the ongoing crisis, contributing to even higher unemployment rates.
The Federation of Kenya Employers (FKE) recently raised an alarm over the country's still fragile employment situation.
In one of its board meetings in 2023, where it voiced the concerns of employers amid the tough operating environment, the federation noted the country was not yet back on track since Covid-19 struck.
"Every day we receive notifications from employers on their intent to declare redundancy," FKE noted.
By then, it hinted that preliminary results had shown between October 2022 and November 2023, about 70,000 of the jobs in the formal private sector were lost and about 40 per cent of employers had reported plans to reduce the number of employees.
The latest figures by the Kenya National Bureau of Statistics (KNBS) also reveal that despite the country adding about 850,000 new jobs in 2023, the state still struggles to create quality jobs as the majority of the new jobs were created in the informal sector.
