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Kenya Bureau of Standards (KEBS) yesterday blamed the tax collector for the disappearance of the condemned sugar which found its way into the market even as it emerged that the authority had seized over 52 tons of bad sugar from over 300 outlets across the country.

KEBS management told MPs that by the time the sugar consignment comprising 20,000 bags of 50 KGS sugar disappeared, it was under the custody of the enforcement arm of the Kenya Revenue Authorirty (KRA) known as the (Intelligence and Strategic Operations ) and Vinepack Limited and Assets Cargo.

KEBS acting managing director Esther Ngari (below) told the lawmakers that the condemned sugar which was being held in   Makongeni Thika had been secured by two seals from the KRA customs department. “The consignment in the go down was sealed off again by the enforcement arm of KRA-ISO (Intelligence and Strategic Operations),” said Ngari.

Accompanied by the institutions top management, Ngari told the MPs that when the consignment arrived in the country in 2018 from Zimbabwe, they rejected it on the account of non-compliance with the requirements as it had no indication of dates of manufacture and expiry.

Alternative use

It is against this background that she said KEBS ordered the condemned sugar to be taken to a warehouse in Machakos county and appointed a company by the name Galgamesh Enterprises and Assets and Cargo to undertake the destruction of it but this was not done as the said company requested KEBS to allow them to convert it into ethanol for industrial use. 

However, Ngari told the MPs that this did not happen as KRA immediately wrote to them and the Multi-Agency team that was to oversee the destruction of the sugar directing that the condemned sugar should instead be taken to Thika, Kiambu county under the supervision of Vinepack Limited and Assets Cargo who would use it to manufacture industrial ethanol.

Following the move, the Multi Agency Team was summoned to coordinate the release by KRA in Mombasa on April 12, 2023, which was done and was taken to Thika while being escorted by the police and KRA regional electronic Cargo Tracking System (RECTS) team.

And to further exonerate KEBS officials Ngari, tabled before the committee documents showing that the condemned sugar was received by Vine Pack and Assets Cargo Limited Director Peter Mwangi for distillation, in the presence of top government officers.