NAIROBI, Kenya, Dec 5 – The National Assembly’s Departmental Committee on Trade, Industry, and Cooperatives has dismissed claims that multinational companies operating in Kenya are discriminating against local investors in the transport and logistics sector.
This follows allegations by the Kenya Transporters Association (KTA), which accused several multinational firms of engaging in unfair practices — including exclusive contracting and predatory pricing — that they said were locking out local transporters from lucrative logistics contracts.
However, the committee says that while the KTA raised “legitimate concerns” about limited access to contracts, no proof was provided to show intentional discrimination or violations of competition laws.
“Based on the evidence adduced, and from the report by the Competition Authority of Kenya, the Committee finds that no evidence was presented to demonstrate discriminatory conduct, abuse of dominance, transfer pricing, predatory pricing or breach of the Competition Act by the multinational companies operating within Kenya’s transport, logistic and warehousing sectors,” the committee said.
“The Committee therefore concluded that the matter did not warrant further action against the multinational companies concerned,” it added.
Following the allegations, companies including Kenya Breweries Limited (KBL), British American Tobacco (BAT), Unilever Kenya, Nestlé Kenya, Coca-Cola and others defended their operations, insisting that their procurement processes are transparent, competitive and supportive of local suppliers.
Despite clearing the firms, the committee has directed the Competition Authority of Kenya (CAK) to maintain strict oversight to ensure continued adherence to fair competition and non-discriminatory contracting practices across the logistics and warehousing sectors.
