Sugar importer had been blacklisted, MPs told

One of the companies that imported sugar in bulk from Brazil last year had in the past been blacklisted by Parliament.

This was revealed on Monday at a sitting of the Joint Parliamentary Committee on Trade and Agriculture probing the entry of contraband sugar into the country.

The Public Accounts Committee of Eleventh Parliament, in a report bearing its recommendations on the sugar crisis in the country, had blacklisted Hydery (P) Limited after it found out that the Kenya Revenue Authority allowed the company and four others to import sugar without permit from the Kenya Sugar Board (KSB).

However, directors of the companies, who appeared before the committee on Monday, denied having been blacklisted and said they were not aware of the report despite a section of MPs recalling having invited them to discuss the sugar crisis.

CONTRABAND SUGAR

Hydery Director Naushad Merali and General Manager Mohamed Kalyan absolved themselves from importing contraband sugar, saying they got all the clearance from the Kenya Bureau of Standards (Kebs) affirming compliance with all the importation requirements.

“Our sugar was inspected by Kebs agents in Brazil and we were given compliance certificate to import the sugar. On reaching the port of Mombasa, our sugar was once again tested by Kebs and found fit for human consumption,” Mr Merali said.

UNSCRUPULOUS INDIVIDUALS

The committee is investigating how unscrupulous individuals took advantage of a Gazette Notice by National Treasury Cabinet Secretary Henry Rotich to flood the local market with duty-free sugar.

Mr Merali said Kebs officials took samples of sugar from his warehouse in Mombasa 10 days ago for testing but are yet to bring back the results.

The company imported 35,000 metric tonnes of brown sugar from Brazil in July last year. They told the committee that they have so far sold 80 per cent, with the rest still in their stores in Mombasa.

KEBS REGULATIONS

The imported sugar was not processed as required by law but still Kebs gave Hydery a go-ahead to release it into the market.

According to Kebs regulations, bulk brown sugar imported into the country must be processed first before it is packaged and sold for human consumption.

The department of health at the Kenya Ports Authority (KPA) had also raised concern on how the sugar was handled at the port during repackaging.

The committee directed KPA to provide CCTV footage on the packaging of the sugar to determine whether all the safety standards were adhered to in the process.

The MPs have now trained their guns on Kebs, whose official they are meeting today. They will also meet officials of the Ministry of Agriculture, Agriculture and Food Authority (AFA) and members of the Committee on Implementation for failing to ensure that the report by PAC was implemented fully.

SOCIAL MEDIA

“These people have no problem, we need to get Kebs who gave them the all the necessary certification to import and sell unprocessed sugar,” said Rongai MP Raymond Moi.

Sony Sugar managers however did not make their presentation to the committee as scheduled and asked for more time to compile a comprehensive report.

“We ask for the indulgence of this committee because we have not been able to put together a report to table before you because we received the information of our appearance on Sunday night through the social media,” said Mr Bernard Otieno the acting Managing.

The committee directed the officials to appear before them on Tuesday afternoon.

Mr Rotich and two other Cabinet Secretaries Sicily Kariuki (Health) and Mwangi Kiunjuri (Agriculture) are also lined up to appear before the committee today before it retreats to write its report that will be tabled before the House on Thursday.