Industrialization CS Adan Mohamed on Thursday named Moses Ikiara as Kenya Bureau of Standards (KEBS) acting Managing Director in place of Charles Ongwae who is currently suspended.
Ongwae was on Friday arrested a day after he appeared before a parliamentary committee where he claimed that no mercury was found in the impounded sugar.
He was arrested with six other officials including senior managers Eric Chesire and Eric Ochieng and arraigned in court where the Director of Public Prosecutions Noording Haji sought to have them jailed over attempted murder charges.
[caption caption="Trade CS Adan Mohamed with KEBS MD Charles Ongwae share a word during a past consultative forum"]
[/caption]
He was later released on a Kshs15 Million bond awaiting arraignment.
The suspended KEBS MD had earlier confirmed that the contraband sugar contained copper and lead.
[caption caption="KEBS MD Ongwae in court on Monday, June 25"]
[/caption]
"The copper that was detected was above the required levels identified by the Kebs standards, making it unfit for consumption. The recommended levels of copper in sugar is supposed to be 2 milligrams in a one-kilogram packet," he noted.
Additionally, the samples also indicated that the brown and white sugar had yeast and molds, polarisation, color conductivity ash and failed to meet the standard specification.
Mr Ongwae stated that copper and lead was found in samples taken from the sugar impounded in Ol Kalou, Isinya, Kisii and Kitui.
On the other hand, Dr Ikiara is the Managing Director of Kenya Investment Authority (KenInvest), a statutory body with the main objective of promoting investments in Kenya.
He holds a PhD in Environmental and Natural Resource Economics from the University of Amsterdam as well as a Master’s degree in economics from the University of Nairobi.
[caption caption="Dr Moses Ikiara (right) with economic planning secretary Stephen Wainaina at a past function in 2012"]
[/caption]
