The Office of the Director of Public Prosecutions has begun the process of releasing thousands of litres of ethanol that will be used in the manufacture of alcohol-based sanitisers for public use.
On March 19, the government ordered the release of all ethanol held at various ports and customs to be used to manufacture the sanitisers.
These sanitizers will be distributed for free to Kenyans as part of the government measures to control the spread of coronavirus in the country.
The ODPP on Tuesday moved to various courts to release of 398,345 litres of ethanol to Kenya Pipeline Corporation which is in charge of the distribution of the product to the manufacturers.
"Following the request, the ODPP in collaboration with the Judiciary, Kenya Revenue Authority and the National Police Service met, discussed and agreed that ODPP coordinates the exercise," ODPP said in a tweet on Wednesday.
Last week, another consignment of ethanol which was being held at the Port of Mombasa and various Container Freight Stations (CFSs) was released for the same purpose.
The 18 containers with 396,000 litres of the product had been impounded over tax-related issues and smuggling.
“Every container received from the customs department had 20,000 litres of ethanol and therefore 20,000 litres of sanitisers will be manufactured per day in the terminals, packaged and distributed in the country,” KPC managing director Macharia Irungu said.
Three major oil marketers are expected to produce at least 20,000 litres of sanitisers daily to support the government's fight against the spread of coronavirus.
Vivo Energy Kenya, Total and Ola Energy (formerly OiLibya) have volunteered to produce alcohol-based sanitisers to meet the high demand for the disinfectant.
