MPs Blast Government Over Interfering With Sugar Scandal Probe

Parliamentarians have exposed an alleged attempt by the government to interfere with the ongoing investigations on the sugar scandal.

Led by Machakos Woman Representative Joyce Kamene, the MPs raised alarm over what they perceive as a deliberate scheme to cripple the alleged contamination of sugar.

Speaking in Parliament on Wednesday, Kamene lamented that: "We are being taken in circles and something seems not to be adding up."

[caption caption="Machakos Woman Representative Joyce Kamene"][/caption]

"This morning we were waiting for the Government Chemist to come before us. They were here (within the precincts of the Parliament) but were later directed to go to the Interior CS’s office. 

"There is something that is not adding up here. Kenyans want to know the truth. We were in Mombasa waiting for them but they kept taking us around," the Machakos MP stated.

Her concerns over the attempted sabotage were equally echoed by the investigating Joint Parliamentary Committee's co-chairperson Adan Haji.

"It should be known to any person invited to this committee that Parliament is a House of records, so it’s incumbent on any witness invited by this committee to appear.

"This last-minute cancellation is tantamount to derailing the work of this committee," Haji stated while singling out the Ministry of Interior as a major culprit.

The Interior Ministry has in the past snubbed invitations from the committee with Interior Cabinet Secretary Fred Matiang'i failing on two occasions to turn up for questioning.

[caption caption="Joint Parliamentary Committee's co-chairperson Adan Haji"][/caption]

There have been contradicting reports on the presence of mercury and other metals in the sugar with a government chemist document showing there were traces of mercury in some of the tested sugar making it harmful for human consumption.

Although the Interior CS had asserted the same, his statement was later contradicted by Kenya Bureau of Standards (KEBS) and former Industrialisation CS Adan Mohamed.