MPs have given the Kenya Bureau of Standards 14 days to resample and determine the safety of the sugar impounded at the Kenya International Sugar Company in Kwale.
More than 8,900 sacks of sugar were confiscated last year over allegations that they were illegally imported and harmful to consumers.
The National Assembly Committee on Trade, Industries and Cooperatives said the delay to file the sugar reports has cost more than 2,400 jobs because of negligence by some few individuals in government.
“The company has closed, destroying livelihoods of thousands just because somebody in a public office has failed to do his work,” chairman Kanini Kega said.
He spoke on Saturday in Msambweni where the committee inspected go-downs holding condemned sugar and edible oils. Kega said investors have incurred losses and several businesses have collapsed because of Kebs’ indecisiveness.
Kiscol general Manager Pamela Ogada said the business has highly suffered since their sugar was seized. She said they cannot cater for expenses because their only source of income has been paralysed.
Ogada appealed to the government to intervene. She said time is limited, adding that the impounded sugar will have expired by December, hence resulting in huge losses.
Kega accused Kebs of defying a court order that directed it to resample the sugar. “I don’t understand why a government agency could disobey a court order. This is bad.”
He said Kebs’ arrogance might burden the national government in recompensing the affected companies for accrued losses. The chairman said the sugar was domestically manufactured and not imported as alleged.
“This product comes from within. It has actually been extracted from the sugarcane seen around the place.”
Kega said once the sugar is found unsafe for use, it should be destroyed immediately so it is not smuggled into the market. The committee blamed the multiagency team that looked into the sugar problem for dragging the case and urged President Uhuru Kenyatta to dismantle it to ease executions of orders.
Kega said a lot of time is wasted through prolonged consultations that the board has to consider. The multiagency team comprises Kebs, the Directorate of Criminal Investigations, the Kenya Revenue Authority and the Anti-Counterfeit Agency, among others. He said the team has outlived its mandate and should be dissolved so each department works freely on its own.
“I believe the multiagency team, for now, has done its duties and it is time the group was split for each and every sector to operate alone to be held liable on an individual basis.”
(Edited by F'Orieny)
