CS Kiunjuri refuses to be dragged into toxic rice saga

Agriculture CS Mwangi Kiunjuri (left) with ministry officials when they appeared before the Senate Agriculture and Livestock Committee on August 23, 2018. PHOTO | DIANA NGILA | NATION MEDIA GROUP

Agriculture Cabinet Secretary Mwangi Kiunjuri has refused to be dragged into the circumstances under which one million bags of toxic rice entered the country.

He told the Senate Agriculture and Livestock Committee that the Trade ministry is best placed to explain the issue.

He however promised to investigate the justification advanced for the importation of the commodity at a time when farmers registered good harvest in the last one year.

Mr Kiunjuri told the committee, that imported rice falls under the category of a commodity which is regulated by the Trade ministry, saying it is the Kenya Bureau of Standards (Kebs) which should explain to the country the facts surrounding the impounded rice.

“Imported rice is domiciled in the Trade ministry because it is not a produce. It is a commodity and its the ministry that regulates the safety of all imports. Kebs should explain what is happening,” he said.

Officers from the Directorate of Criminal Investigations last month impounded one million bags of the poisonous rice in a warehouse in Mombasa.

According to the DCI Director George Kinoti, the rice, originally from Pakistan, had been condemned as unfit for human consumption but somehow found its way into Kenya, even though it had expired three years ago.

Mr Kinoti said unscrupulous importers were printing new bags that were transported to the high seas and used to repackage the contaminated rice.

The CS refused to discuss the issue in detail saying he needs to appraise himself on whether the East Africa Community Customs Union regulations and Comesa Protocol were followed in the importation of the rice before he could give a proper statement on the issue.

“We need to investigate. I will set up a team and the Senate can be part of the team to get to the bottom of the issue. First I must look at the regulations,” he said, proposing a joint team of the ministry officials and the Senate.

The matter was brought to the attention of the CS by the chairman of the committee Njeru Ndwiga who demanded an explanation on whether it is true that poisonous rice had found its way into the country even as the country still battles the question of the illicit sugar.

Mr Ndwiga had argued that it is wrong for the country to import rice when farmers in the major irrigations schemes of Mwea, Bunyala and Ahero had registered a good harvest.

Among the issues the committee wanted to know is the quantity of rice produced in Kenya per year, the deficit and how State manages the deficit.