The increased number of private companies shutting down in the country has been a subject of great concern among different stakeholders in the government.  

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Data released by Registrar of Companies show that 388 private companies have since been shut down in the last six months. The registrar has also revealed that there are more companies bound to shut down before the end of the year. The closure of the firms has cut across all sectors of the economy. 

They range from local subsidiaries, solo-owned businesses, and family-owned companies. The data shows that 95 firms shut down operations in the last month while 100 of them were closed in July. In the month of May, 90 firms stopped operations and 103 were struck off from the registrar of companies. 

The closure of the companies has been attributed to different reasons. The recent increase of companies firing workers has also become a subject of discussion. 

East African Breweries Limited, Stanbic Bank and East African Portland Cement Company (EAPCC) are among the companies that have sacked employees in the recent past. Julius Muia, PS Treasury, has attributed the crackdown on non-tax compliance as one of the reasons for the closure.

 “Subdued growth in earnings per employee in 2018/19 contributed to the shortfall in PAYE as well as non-remittances of PAYE from some state corporations,” Muia said, as quoted by Standard.

Hundreds of Kenyans risk losing their jobs if the companies shut down. The crackdown has affected different sectors with including betting firms. The government has vowed not to change its stand on the tax compliance amid uproar from different stakeholders.