On the matter of fake imported fertiliser, I have a special plea to President William Ruto’s administration.
Although we all accept that we are a very corrupt society, the last thing we should tolerate is to allow corrupt elites and profiteers to toy with the lives and health of our people by selling them sub-standard fertiliser.
The fake fertiliser scam is a public outrage because that product touches on public health — the food we put into our mouths. We should not compromise quality and safety with what goes into our mouths at any cost.
What must President Ruto’s administration do to prevent recurrence of similar scams and secure the standards and safety of imported fertiliser?
In my view, the biggest elephant in the room is the efficacy and governance of the Kenya Bureau of Standards (Kebs). The questions the government should be asking include the following.
First, why are cases of fake imports becoming too frequent and what is the level of integrity and efficacy of the laboratories at Kebs?
This a very pertinent question because, when you follow the trend in recent scams, the inescapable conclusion you arrive at is that results of lab tests at Kebs change at the whims and interests of individuals.
Two recent examples stand out in this regard. We all remember the imported cooking oil scam, when Kebs told us categorically that they had subjected several consignments of edible oil imported under the government-subsidised cooking oil programme to test and found the product to be unfit for human consumption.
Cronies of corrupt elites
But before the ink had dried on that announcement, the standards body back-tracked and announced that the cooking oil was safe for human consumption.
Clearly, somebody was playing politics with a matter that touches on the safety of the food we eat.
The second example: There was a time when a CEO, Charles Ongwae, was booted out of office over allegations that Kebs had allowed a Moroccan company to bring in a consignment of fertiliser laced with mercury into the country under his watch.
Months later, tests conducted in independent labs abroad revealed that the mercury story was a blatant concoction and the allegations untrue.
In the circumstances, and as the matter threatened to ignite a diplomatic dispute with the Kingdom of Morocco, the government allowed the fertiliser to be released into the market.
The irony of ironies in this saga is that, to date, Mr Ongwae and other top Kebs officials remain in court, where they still face criminal charges over a consignment of fertiliser that was released to the market and consumed by farmers many years ago. Theatre of the absurd!
The biggest mistake we make is that we treat and govern this important and specialised body like any other parastatal and stuff its board with cronies of corrupt elites.
Successive administrations in this country have, over the years, reduced Kebs into a playground, where different factions of the political elite test their power and influence.
Product authentication
Fights over control of the affairs of Kebs by factions of the political elite become more vicious, especially when lucrative and large contracts and procurement deals floated by the body are on the cards.
Procurement of pre-shipment inspection (PSI) services do not end without allegations of corruption and improper dealings. The vicious political manoeuvring by well-connected merchants intensifies whenever PSI contracts are about to expire or tenders for new contracts are about to be floated.
Indeed, meddling by corrupt elites is why Kebs is perennially steeped in a deep corporate governance crisis characterised by a high turnover of chief executives, arbitrary and frequent removal or replacement of board of directors, arbitrary transfers of staff perceived to be blocking the interests of well-connected merchants and undeserved promotion of staffers deemed to be in the good books of the politically influential.
We urgently need to remove this critical national asset from the suffocating grip of greedy elites. We should also be relooking at co-ordination among institutions that deal with product authentication and conformity to quality and health standards.
Kebs alone issues multiple stamps and marks — namely, Standardisation Mark, Diamond Mark, Food Fortification Logo and Important Standardisation Mark Scheme. Although the law allows the Anti-Counterfeit Agency to issue a ‘mark of genuine stamp’, it is yet to implement it.
Kephis issues stamps on seeds and seed labels, depending on the size of seed and the quantity being cleared.
The Pharmacy and Poisons Board issues a certificate of analysis, production retention certificate and product import and export permit. KRA issues excise stamps, which are recorded and validated in an Excise Goods Management System.
Aren’t these stamps and stickers just too many?
