President William Ruto has suspended the Kenya Bureau of Standards (KEBS) Managing Director Bernard Njiraini alongside twenty-six other officials in a mega sugar scandal.
According to a statement issued by the State House on Wednesday, the KEBS officials were under investigation for the release of condemned sugar earmarked for industrial use.
The 20,000 bags of sugar had been imported in 2018, condemned over the expiration date, and was earmarked for destruction or conversion into industrial ethanol.
But investigators said they discovered that the bad sugar had been released for use by the public. Yet, it is unfit for consumption, triggering the action by President William Ruto to suspend the officials for further investigations.
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Njiraini was suspended alongside six other officials at KEBS and eight at the Kenya Revenue Authority (KRA), four police officers and six others from the Agriculture and Food Authority (AFA).
“It has since been established that the consignment was irregularly diverted and unprocedural released. Further, the conditions relating to open and competitive enlisting of the distiller were breached and the applicable taxes were not paid.” a statement issued by Head of Public Service Felix Koskei read.
According to Koskei, the sugar conversion to industrial use was to be undertaken by regulatory agencies to source for a distiller through an open and competitive tendering process and taxes fully paid.
“It is manifest that some officers in the relevant agencies abdicated their responsibilities, at the risk of public harm,” Koskei said.
The suspension follows similar action at the Health Ministry, where a Principal Secretary was fired alongside the Chief Executive Officer of the Kenya Medical Supplies Authority and its board over a multi-billion mosquito nets scandal.
