Eight Kenya Bureau of Standards (KEBS) officials connected to the fake fertilizer scandal subject of investigations by Directorate of Criminal Investigations (DCI) detectives and Parliament have been arrested.

 The eight were interdicted over the issuance of certification and quality marks to two companies linked to the substandard fertiliser.

Their suspension comes a few days after a government spokesperson said the DCI has taken up the matter and those found culpable of supplying not only the fertilizer but also any other form of fake farm inputs shall be apprehended and prosecuted.

“I also wish to clarify that the other type of fertilizer that has been flagged out as fake is a GPC product sold commercially under agency arrangement outside the NCPB system as a soil conditioner and not fertilizer,” explained Mwaura in an address to the media last week

“The product is only being distributed through the Board’s depots by the 51 Capital (K) Limited and is not part of the GoK Subsidized Fertilizers availed to registered farmers.”

Mwaura said that the NCPB, being a State Corporation that generates its own revenue for its own operations and self-sustainability, engages in business partnerships with interested parties that provide farm inputs and other supplies on an agency basis as part of its commercial mandate.