Fake sugar, edible oils and fertiliser are among substandard products that have passed through the Mombasa port, putting the facility on the spot.
Consumers have been in the last months exposed to contaminated sugar that entered the country through the port. And they further have been taking substandard edible oils at a premium. Farmers have also been at the mercy of barons selling fake fertiliser.
The Kenyan port was the headquarters of the brazen deceit — the playgrounds of vice which allowed anything to pass.
How far the con game has been going on is not clear but as the scrutiny on the scandalous multibillion shilling sugar import continues, the government has now confirmed the obvious: that so far, 19 million kilos of sugar, which is about three per cent of our annual consumption and equivalent to our weekly requirement, was dirty ridden with yeast and moulds. These can cause allergic reactions and respiratory problems.
The numbers are rather shocking: 361 containers of fertiliser, which is 67 per cent of the cargo analysed, has so far failed the test and will be destroyed. Pundits say that this is an indicator of the rip-off that farmers faced on an annual basis.
Already, top Kenya Bureau of Standards (Kebs) officials including the Managing Director Charles Ongwae and nine others have been arrested and charged in court over poor quality standardisation mark, fake fertilisers, and contraband sugar.
On sugar, the Cabinet Secretary for Industry, Trade and Co-operatives Mr Peter Munya, said that “these failures are indicative of poor handling during storage”, raising questions on how this was allowed to happen.
“There must have been a certificate of conformity on these products. And there are agencies at the port which are supposed to verify. The problem is that we are not being told the whole truth,” says Stephen Mutoro, the Consumer Federation of Kenya Secretary-General.
Perhaps more shocking discovery is that 63 per cent of the edible oils imports seized did not meet the required vitamin A standards triggering fear that consumers could have been taken for a ride by edible oil merchants — and for a long time.
The importers of the edible oils have now been given 30 days to reship the oil. “Following the expiry of the re-shipment period, any shipment that is still within the country will be destroyed at the cost of the owners,” said the CS.
But there is fear that some of the edible oils could be in the market already and that explains why the minister promised that “Kebs will continue to proactively and expeditiously deal with all edible oils in the market that do not conform with its standards strictly in the manner prescribed by the law.”