- MPs have summoned members of the multi-agency team.
- Parliament has been probing how the sugar ended up in the market.
Image: HANDOUT
The controversy surrounding the condemned sugar took a new twist Thursday after the Multi-Agency Team disclosed it was kept in the dark on the change of storage in Thika.
Multi-Agency Team (MAT) leader and suspended Mombasa KRA Customs Warehouse Manager Masinde Mwanja on Thursday told MPs that his team were not informed of the decision to change storage.
Initially, the Sugar that was to be converted to ethanol was destined to be stored at Vine Park Industries in Thika but it ended up in Kings Commodities also in Thika.
"There was no indication of challenges in space that was made known to us. Vine Park did not raise any issues on this,” Masinde said.
Masinde apart from heading MAT was also in charge of the warehouse in Mombasa where the consignment was kept before leaving for Thika.
“We even allowed the entire team to talk to us and they did not. Should we have known we would have released the sugar in bits?" he posed.
"When the sugar arrived at Vine Park our mandate ended there and we were not told anything else from there. I do not know who the king's commodities are and I have never interacted with them."
He said they would have resorted to releasing the consignment in batches had Vine Park indicated that they have storage space challenges.
Masinde was appearing before the National Assembly Committee on Trade chaired by Embakasi North MP James Gakuya over the illegal release of the condemned sweetener to the market.
He further informed the house team that their role as MAT was to deliver the consignment and hand it to Vine Park who was to lead the conversation process.
"There was no indication that this sugar could have been lost. We had initially identified transportation as the highest risk and when this was avoided we were happy. We could not have imagined that 40 containers carrying 20,000 bags of sugar could be lost. This is a huge number," he said.
Also appearing before the probe team, KRA Customs Manager in charge of Vine Park Irene Wanjiku confessed not seeing any tracks outside the facility during the period the consignment is said to have parked there.
She clarified that her role was limited to only what was going on within the yard and had nothing to do with activities outside the facility.
The Committee has now invited the Agriculture and Food Authority (AFA) and Kenya Bureau of Standards (KEBS) to shed light on the matter, they were also members of the multi-agency team.