Kenyans continue to bear the brunt of the ongoing financial turmoil with a total of 114 companies set to be struck off the Register of Companies.
In a notice dated September 16 and signed by Joyce Koech, the Registrar of Companies, a total of 46 companies had applied to be struck off the registered.
Another notice dated September 30 followed showing 68 additional companies had also applied to be de-listed.
In its notice, the Registrar of Companies announced that all individuals who contested the companies' intended dissolution had three months to lodge their complaints.
"The Registrar of Companies gives notice that the names of the companies specified hereunder shall be struck off from the Register of Companies at the expiry of three months from the date of publication of this Notice, and invites any person to show cause why the companies should not be struck off from the Register of Companies," read the statement in part.
The announcement comes as the Kenyan economy continues to suffer from a myriad of factors led by the just concluded General elections, the ongoing drought as well as the Ukraine-Russia war that spiked the price of oil globally. The economy is also yet to fully recover from the ravages of the pandemic.
For the fourth quarter in a row, the country recorded a dip in its economic growth which stood at 5.2 per cent in the second quarter of 2022 as per the Kenya National Bureau of Statistics (KNBS).
The first quarter had seen a growth rate of 6.8 percent while 7.4 per cent was recorded in the fourth quarter of 2021.
The decline was attributed to poor agricultural yield caused by poor rainfall, which is a main economic activity countrywide, as well as a spike in inflation that reduced the purchasing power.
“Agriculture, forestry and fishing activities’ value added contracted for the third consecutive quarters, mainly attributed to unfavourable weather conditions that characterised the last quarter of 2021 and the first half of 2022,” read the KNBS statistics in part.
An economist who spoke to Kenyans.co.ke however explained that in some instances, deregistration of companies is a decision of the board.
He argued that some individuals choose to wind down their establishments after inactivity or to evade paying taxes for loss making ventures.
"Some people set up companies but they are not able to transact some businesses so the registrar of companies come in occasionally. I would not put it specifically as a result of the economy. It could also be some business were registered but they haven't really picked up the traction that could warrant them to be ongoing as a business.
"We never get to get some granular details about the companies. I suspect that this are the Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs) businesses. Because of the taxes, rather than having a company where the directors will be liable, the most logical thing is to shut down the company so as not to incur from a tax perspective," he explained
Regarding the economy, the economist maintained that it was too early to judge how President William Ruto's regime is performing after spending a month in office.
"One month is hard to form an opinion on what he has done. Some of the projects have not been implemented," he explained.
