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Members of Parliament (MPs) have warned Kenyans could be consuming substandard products after it emerged that Kenya Bureaus of Standards (KEBS) allowed the importation of 78,000 defective gas cylinders into the country during the 2020/2021 financial year.

The lawmakers who sit in the Public Accounts Committee (PAC) accused KEBS of taking Kenyans for granted after its top officials told the committee that they did not check the cylinders when they arrived at the port of entry in Mombasa because inspection was done in the country of origin.

At a meeting with KEBS acting Managing Director Esther Ngari who had appeared to shed light on the matter as raised by the Auditor General Nancy Gathungu, the committee members told off KEBS for failing to do due diligence whenever products are brought in to the market

PAC chairperson and nominated MP John Mbadi accused KEBS of doing its work in a casual manner as they allowed the importation of faulty cylinders which they know if released to the market its impact would be very lethal to Kenyans.

Said Mbadi: “This cylinders are very good, they are being used in various households at the moment, but they can also be very dangerous if they are not handled well and you people know that. ”

He added: “we need to amend the KEBS act so that we can have punitive laws in place so that all those who are dealing with certification can be jailed for life should they fail to do their job.”

The gas cylinders were procured by the State Department for Petroleum after it started the implementation of Liquefied Petroleum Gas (LPG) project in 2016 whose aim was to promote the use of modern cooking fuels among low-income households.

The companies that imported the cylinders include Surge Energy Limited which imported 79,998 cylinders out of which 27,129(33.91 percent) passed the test while 52869(66.09 percent) were defective, Allied East African Limited imported 11,132 which were all defective and Accurate Power systems Limited which imported 15,056 cylinders which were all defective.

MPs Mbadi, David Kiplagat (Soy), Mutuse Mwengi(Kibwezi West),Adow Mohammed(Wajir South) and Nabii Nabwera (Lugari) said it is the high time they amended the KEBS act to include harsh penalties such as individuals being jailed for life for any officers who fails to carry out inspections of products as required.