Kenya Bureau of Standards (Kebs) was put on the spot for failing to watch over condemned one million kilogrammes of sugar that disappeared earlier this year.
Appearing before National Assembly’s Trade, Industry, and Cooperatives Committee, acting Managing Director Esther Ngari was hard pressed to explain why there was no surveillance at the warehouse the consignment had been stored.
Funyula MP Wilberforce Oundo sought to know why Kebs had not installed CCTVs at the warehouse in Thika to watch over the sugar.
“CCTVs were supposed to have been installed at the warehouse before the consignment left Mombasa. This would have helped Kebs do surveillance in real time but that did not happen” he said.
Ngari further told the committee that she does not know the whistleblower who alerted authorities of the disappearance of the sugar.
Some 20,000 bags of sugar of 50kg each disappeared.
Committee chair, Embakasi North MP James Gakuya, wanted to know if the whistleblower was a staff of Kebs or an outsider.
“The whistleblower is not known to me,” Ngari told the committee, as she insisted that the warehouse was sealed, as confirmed by an officer from Kebs.
“Our officer was there when the sugar was stored at the warehouse and when the seals were broken and the consignment was found missing,” she added.
Gakuya maintained that witnessing the sealing of the warehouse was not enough.
“If you say you were there when the sugar was stored and when the seals were broken to find the warehouse empty, then tell us what happened to the sugar. Why didn’t you have people on the ground to watch over the sugar and also install CCTVs? Do you want to tell us seals are a guarantee of security?” Gakuya posed.
The Embakasi North MP said it was not satisfactory for Kebs to state it was not in a position to do surveillance.
“You cannot tell us that the mandate changed from Kebs to Kenya Revenue Authority. Kebs was to oversee the conversion of the sugar to ethanol with NEMA,” he stated.
The committee said it will summon one Peter Mwangi, who confirmed to have received the consignment at the warehouse.
“This is the person we should be questioning. He has to tell us the point at which the sugar grew legs,” said Oundo.
On June 8, Kebs blamed Kenya Revenue Authority (KRA) for the disappearance of the sugar.
Kebs said the condemned sugar was under the supervision of the taxman- at the Vinepack Industries warehouse in Thika- before it disappeared.
Ngari who was before the same committee explained that after learning of the disappearance of the sugar, Kebs sanctioned a countrywide market surveillance activity which is still ongoing to remove the contaminated sugar from the market.
The committee heard that 10 days after the sugar was placed in the go-downs, they got word from a whistle-blower that it had gone missing and made its way into the market.
The committee however sought to know whether indeed Kebs did due diligence in establishing that indeed the sugar made it to Thika and why despite the sugar being condemned in 2018, it was only reported missing in 2023.
It further sought to know measures that had been put in place to recover the sugar.