KEBS MD Ongwae spends night in custody as government starts sugar clean up

Kenya Bureau of Standards (Kebs) Managing Director Charles Ongwae and nine other officials spent the night in police custody as the government began rounding up people suspected of being behind the influx of contraband goods in the country.

His arrest came after weeks of Kebs fighting negative publicity over claims of allowing the distribution of fake standardisation mark stickers and stamps, leading to a proliferation of fake products in the market.

Public fury

Among the contraband products that has caused public fury is sugar ladened with with heavy metals.

However, Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) Noordin Haji said the nine had been arrested in connection with importation of substandard fertiliser and the fake stickers. Haji said they are investigating the issue of contraband sugar and will soon make arrests.

Those arrested alongside Ongwae are Eric Chesire (quality assurance director), Peter Kinyanjui (inspection manager Kilindini), Martin Nyakiamo (regional manager Coast) and Pole Mwangeni (port health officer).

They will be charged on Monday with attempted murder, aiding the commission if a felony, abuse of office, breach of trust and selling substandard goods.

They will be charged jointly with Karim Lofti, Marika Kirama and Yunes Addou, who are directors of OCP Kenya, the firm accused of importing substandard fertiliser.

In a statement released last night, the DPP said investigations had revealed that Kebs officials had colluded with the directors of OCP to allow into the country fertiliser that had been rejected for being substandard.

The 5,846,000 kilograms of fertiliser imported from Morocco “failed to meet the standard set by Kebs and was rejected.” “The company appealed against the first testing whereupon the second testing it failed to meet the standard again. That notwithstanding, the fertiliser was released into the market as opposed to destruction or reshipping to the country of origin,” said the DPP.

Prior to 2009, Kebs had unconditionally specified cadmium content in DAP imported into the country from any foreign base not to exceed seven parts per million (ppm – which is a measure of the level of cadmium in fertiliser).

But in 2015, the Kebs technical committee reviewed the cadmium level upwards from the initial seven ppm, to a maximum of 30ppm, higher than in any country in the region. The new review opened Kenyan borders to floods of cheap fertiliser imports that contain gross amounts of the highly pollutant metal from questionable sources all over the world.

On the second charge, Ongwae, Chesire and six other top Kebs officials plus the directors of Madras Security Printers will be charged with conspiracy to defraud, breach of trust, abuse of office and cheating arising from fake standardisation stickers.

These are Catherine Bowen, Robin Shake, Eric Ochieng and Erick Kimutai who were tender committee members when Madras won the contract to print stickers. Roda Kirui, the procurement officer at Kebs, and James Murungi, the head of pre-export verification of conformity to standards, will also face the same charge.

“The mark supplied has been found to be prone to photocopying, scanning and misuse by unscrupulous traders, thereby defeating the purpose of procurement,” said the DPP over the awarding of Madras Security a tender to print standardization marks.

“Kebs committed the government to the payment of more than Sh800 million for the supply of the standardisation mark for over a period of three years,” he said.
Prathap Singh, Rajah Singh, Arut Singh, Sam Prassad, Asir Singhm Suseela Rajaah, Pomani Prasad and Ramachandran Natarajan, who are all directors at the company, will also be charged alongside the seven Kebsofficials for this crime.

They denied that the stickers under question did not originate from their firm.

“All import standardisation marks are made as per the specifications in the tender. Fakes may be present in the market but they do not originate from us. Consumers should authenticate the overt security features such as the country map of Kenya which changes colour from black to green,” said Madras’ Senior Manager Natarajan.

Bad sugar

The officials told Saturday Standard they had provided additional security features on product stickers above tender requirements.

Ongwae’s arrest came just a day after he differed with Interior Cabinet Secretary Fred Matiang’i over the existence of mercury in the sugar brought in the country fraudulently.

DCI boss George Kinoti said they were talking the 10 officials after investigations showed a bad trend of circulation of bad sugar pointing to neglect or collusion.

“They need to explain how the country is feeding on poisonous sugar. Copper and lead are dangerous to humans,” he said.

[Vincent Achuka, Cyrus Ombati, Otiato Guyuguyu]

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