Matiang’i, Adan show unified front on bogus sugar fiasco

Two Cabinet secretaries who have openly differed on the toxicity of sugar impounded in different parts of the country have presented a unified stance in a press statement, saying they are both committed to the fight against contraband.

Interior Cabinet Secretary Fred Matiang’i and his Industrialization counterpart Adan Mohamed issued a joint press statement on Friday that lacked the sting with which the two had addressed the toxicity matter.

The CSs closed ranks as police in Mombasa raided a godown near Bandari college and found more than 300,000 bags of Brazilian and Egyptian sugar.

In the statement, which they also shared on their Twitter accounts, the duo chose to use the word “contaminated” rather than poisonous to describe the impounded sugar.

“During the crackdown, the multiagency team has confiscated some sugar that was found to have been contaminated as a result of poor handling and storage,” they said.

“Any goods that have been confiscated as part of the ongoing crackdown that do not meet Kenyan standards will be destroyed in line with the legal requirements.”

MERCURY

This was a departure from the tone on Wednesday when Mr Mohamed questioned results of chemical tests on samples of counterfeit sugar.

This was a challenge against Dr Matiang’i’s announcement a week earlier.

“To the best of our knowledge, there is no indication of anything like mercury that has been found in any of those sugars,” he said and added:

“Additional tests have been done and no traces have been found.”

But a week earlier, while speaking after a consignment of sugar had been impounded in Busia, Dr Matiang’i had said traces of poisonous mercury had been found.

REVENUE

He added that whoever was behind it was “engaged in murder on a mass scale”.

Siding with him was the director of criminal investigations George Kinoti who said the revelations on mercury in sugar were made based on test results.

In the joint statement, the ministers said they were reaffirming their commitment to the government’s war on counterfeit products.

“The fight … will continue as a means of protecting local manufacturers from losing revenues to goods entering the country without due process. We request and appeal to all citizens to report any suspicions of counterfeited goods to the key agencies responsible,” they stated.

“We further re-assure the public and all Kenyan consumers that government agencies responsible for ensuring safety and standards of goods entering the country will continue to be vigilant to ensure that all products in our country are fit for human consumption,” they added.

CRACKDOWN

In Mombasa, Urban Police OCPD Eliud Monari accompanied by several plain clothes police officers said the sugar was being repackaged but its final destination was yet to be known.

“We suspect this sugar is not unfit for human consumption but a multiagency team dispatched from Nairobi will verify,” the OCPD said.

The sting operation caught the staff and other workers at the godown by surprise even as police mounted the crackdown in the county.

“We got some information from concerned members of the public that some characters at a godown near Bandari college were changing some sugar from some sacks. We came to the place and we confirmed the existence of the sugar in estimated 300,000 bags.

“We have also found some sacks outside the stores indicating that repackaging has been going on. We also believe that the sugar might have been expired,” the OCPD added on Saturday afternoon during the raid.