- The committee directed KRA not to destroy the sugar saying it doubted the agency’s suitability to carry out the exercise.
- KRA informed the committee that the sugar in the containers was set for destruction.
Image: File
Members of various Parliamentary committees met last week to consider scheduled business even as the House was on recess.
National Assembly’s Trade, Industry and Cooperatives Committee, chaired by James Gakuya (Embakasi North) learnt that 49 containers with condemned sugar were still intact.
Kenya Revenue Authority acting commissioner of Customs and Border Control Pamela Ahago on July 20 told the committee that there are 49 containers of condemned sugar still in storage.
Some 20,000 bags of sugar of 50kg each were shipped from Zimbabwe to Mombasa on June 30, 2018, but mysteriously disappeared from the Vine Park Industry warehouse in Thika in April.
Officials fear unsuspecting Kenyans could have bought the condemned sugar.
On July 7, a director of a company at the centre of the disappearance of the cargo told the James Gakuya-led committee that KRA officials know who stole the sugar.
On Friday, Ahago informed the committee that the sugar in the containers was set for destruction.
The committee directed KRA not to destroy the sugar saying it doubted the agency’s suitability to carry out the exercise.
Members of the committee raised the concerns as KRA was adversely mentioned in the ongoing investigations into the disappearance of the condemned sugar.
“My committee is keen to guarantee Kenyan consumers safety and protection," Gakuya said.
The National Assembly Public Petitions Committee chaired by Nimrod Mbai (Kitui East) visited Kilifi North Constituency on a fact–finding mission following a petition filed by residents through area MP Owen Baya.
He filed the petition over delayed adjudication and settlement of residents in the Mnarani, Misufini, Vibandani, and Kibarani Sub-locations, as well as the Tezo Location.
Members were told that the land under dispute originally belonged to the Mijikenda community but was leased to Lily White, a Colonial Master, towards the end of the colonial era.
Subsequently, the Coast Development Company took over the land for agricultural purposes.
Residents want the committee to investigate the legality of the Coast Development Company, and revoke the title in their favour.
Deputy Speaker of the National Assembly Gladys Boss was in Yaunde, Cameroon where she led a discussion on the free movement of persons across Africa at the 18th Conference of Speakers and Presiding Officers of the Commonwealth, Africa Region.
She emphasised the crucial role of African legislatures in implementing the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA).
The Deputy Speaker highlighted their responsibilities, including ratifying and domesticating the agreement, providing oversight and monitoring, and creating awareness.
"We propose that African Parliaments form working groups with timelines in line with the membership of Regional Economic blocs and draft model laws that can be used by the respective parliaments to domesticate the African Continent free trade area,” she stated.
The Deputy Speaker led a Kenyan delegation comprising Peter Kaluma (Homa-Bay town), Beatrice Adagala (Vihiga County) and Paul Mwirigi (Igembe South).