Tanzania minister tells off Ahmednasir over fake fertiliser origin

Tanzania's Agriculture Minister Hussein Bashe has told off Kenyan lawyer Ahmednasir Abdullahi over claims that the fake fertiliser sold to farmers in Kenya came from Tanzania.

In a statement on Friday, Bashe said his country is not associated with any fake fertiliser as Tanzania only engages in export business guided by the principles of integrity.

He insisted that Tanzania does not engage in questionable practices and shouldn't be included in Kenya's mess.

"Tanzania is not connected to any fake fertilizer scandal, so please do not associate us with the popular hustler culture. Tanzania does not export counterfeit commodities, including fertilizer, to Kenya. We are well aware of the exact nature of the goods our two companies have exported through official channels.

"Please address your own issues with shortcuts and questionable practices, as our trade policies are governed by principles rooted in integrity. If there is a mess, I recommend you clean it up, do not implicate Tanzania. It is not our way," the Tanzania Agriculture Minister said.

In a post on X, Ahmednasir on Thursday said that he had information that the alleged fake fertilizer was from Tanzania.

He called on Kenyan government to tell Kenyans where exactly the alleged fake fertiliser came from and how it got into the country.

In a rejoinder to the minister's rebuttle,  the lawyer said the Tanzanian Minister is better placed to help Kenyans know where the quarry is located.

Ahmednasir added that the Kenyan company at the centre of the scandal will admit to supplying fake fertiliser.

"Waziri, probably, you should help us identify the quarry that supplied the sand, rocks, and goat manure as the Kenyan company will not admit that it supplied our farmers sand, rocks and goat manure! Please, Waziri! We will really appreciate it," he said.

The Kenya Bureau of Standards (Kebs) boss Esther Ngari was the first to confirm the presence of fake fertiliser in the NCPB stores when she appeared before the National Assembly Agriculture Committee last month.

“The product being distributed is not certified by Kebs. The product which Kebs initially certified is different from what has been seized from various NCPB depots in the country and condemned as substandard and counterfeited, and thus not suitable for sale in the market,” Ngari told the committee.