The Departmental Committee of Trade tabled its report on the contaminated sugar that mysteriously disappeared in Thika last year.
In the report in possession of Kenyans.co.ke, it was established that the contaminated sugar was released to the market and sold to unsuspecting Kenyans.
The committee also established liability on the part of various government agencies who failed to undertake their mandate in ensuring that the sugar was not released to the public.
Among the institutions implicated were the Kenya Bureau of Standards (KEBS), the National Environment Management Authority (NEMA), and the Agriculture and Food Authority (AFA).
The contaminated sugar was delivered to a company warehouse in Thika with the objective for the sugar, unfit for human consumption, to be changed to ethanol.
"Considering that the obligation and duties of the multi-agency team were to the final conclusion of the process of distillation, the committee finds that the whole team was negligent in discharging their duties, and as a result of the negligence, the sugar was lost.
"The committee finds the three institutions, i.e. KEBS, NEMA and AFA as the most responsible, as they had a major supervisory role to the final distillation process," read the report in part.
On the other hand, the committee also established that the release of the sugar to the Thika company was done irregularly contrary to the law.
In this respect, some officials from the taxman were named as individuals to be held liable.
Therefore, owing to its findings, the committee is pushing for the Inspector General and the Directorate of Criminal Investigations (DCI) to investigate government officials and the Thika company owners over the sugar saga.
"The committee recommends that, within 60 days of the adoption of this Report, the Inspector General investigates the conduct of all Kenya Revenue Authority officials who were responsible for the whole process leading to the conversion of the condemned sugar and recommends requisite legal action.
"The Inspector General is to investigate the conduct of the company directors that led to the illegal and irregular release of the condemned sugar, and advise or make recommendations to the Director of Public Prosecutions to take requisite legal action," read the report in part.
In May 2023, after an uproar by Kenyans, President William Ruto suspended senior government officials over the saga.
Among those who were suspended were the former KEBS Managing Director and the Director of Quality Assurance and Inspection
Two DCI officers were also directed to step aside and pave the way for investigations.
