Linturi, NCPB bosses to face MPs over fake fertiliser

Agriculture Cabinet Secretary Mithika Linturi will on Monday appear before a parliamentary committee as the House starts a probe into the fake fertiliser scandal.

Also to appear before National Assembly’s Agriculture Committee is National Ceraels and Produce Board managing director Joseph Kimote, Agriculture PS Paul Ronoh, Kenya Bureau of Standards managing director Esther Ngari and Kenya Plant Health Inspectorate Service managing director Prof Theophilus Mutui.

The committee chaired by Tigania West MP John Mutunga has initiated the probe following a public outcry on the sale of sub-standard fertiliser to unsuspecting farmers.

The committee seeks to establish how the fake substance found its way into government stores and to what extent the fake fertiliser has been sold to the farmers.

The committee also wants to ascertain any health effects crops and the farmers are exposed to due to use of the substance.

The Kebs boss was the first to confirm presence of fake fertliser in the NCPB stores when she appeared before the Mutunga-led committee last month.

“The product being distributed is not certified by Kebs. The product which KEBS initially certified is different from what has been seized from various NCPB depots in the country and condemned as sub-standard and counterfeited and thus not suitable for sale in the market,” Ngari told the committee.

She disclosed the substance is circulated under the standardisation marks belonging to SBL – Innovate Manufacturers Limited.

The manufacturer, according to Ngari, used the Kebs standardisation marks on a product never certified by the agency.

“The company displayed the mark on a product that had not undergone the mandatory certification process as stipulated by the Standards Act and governed by the applicable standard,” Ngari said.

Committee vice chairperson Brighton Yegon said SBL Innovate Manufacturers will also appear before the team on Tuesday to clear the air.

“The Departmental Committee on Agriculture and Livestock is seized of the allegations of the sale and distribution of counterfeit fertiliser across the country. Members of the committee held a planning meeting and agreed on the best approach to the matter in view of its importance,” Yegon said on Thursday.

The standards body told the committee that it had impounded 5,840 bags of the fake fertiliser bearing their standardisation marks.

Ngari further informed the committee that the alleged fake fertiliser, GPC Plus organic fertiliser, had not been certified by KEBS.

According to the KEBS boss, some of the areas where the counterfeit product was impounded include the Elbergon NCPB, Kipkaren Salient, Ziwa and Olenguruone, Kwale, Turbo, Kipkaren River and Moi’s Bridge in Kitale.

Other places are Butere, Ishiara, Mwea and Kilifi.

To ascertain the KEBS claims, Yegon said his committee will carry out inspection tours across select NCPB stores in the country.

“We wish to assure the country that we shall do everything within our mandate to ensure that corrective measures are put in place and that punishment is meted out to anyone found culpable of any malpractice,” Yegon said.

The Konoin MP maintained that farmers who were duped into buying fake fertiliser must be compensated in full and those involved face the law.

“Farmers must be compensated, some people must take responsibility on this matter,” he said.

The National Assembly’s probe comes at a time senators have also initiated a similar investigation to unearth the truth behind the fake fertiliser scandal.

The Senate Agriculture committee chaired by Kirinyaga Senator James Murango summoned Kebs and Kenya National Trading Corporation CEOs to shed light on the scandal.

The committee has also summoned Auditor General Nancy Gathungu and National Environment Management Authority CEO Mamo Mamo.

“This is a very serious matter. Unlike doctors and advocates whom we may need several times in a year, we need farmers every day since they provide us food. We cannot afford to allow a few unscrupulous individuals to get away with this scandal,” Murango said.

The Kirinyaga senator spoke after his committee watched an exposé by Africa Uncensored – a media outlet – that exposed the racket behind the sale of fake fertiliser.

He said the committee will leave no stone unturned.