The Ministry of Agriculture and Livestock Development, through Principal Secretary Kello Harsama, clarified that a notice allowing 26 companies to import duty-free sugar was fake.
Through his social media platform, Harsama flagged down the post dated Wednesday, January 11, titled "importation of duty-free brown/mill white sugar" as fake.
The two-page notice, widely shared on social media, listed the selected companies to supply varying quantities of sugar from outside the country.
"Following Gazette Notice dated December 22, 2022, directing importation of 100,000 metric tonnes of brown or mill white sugar, the mentioned companies have requested for allocation," read part of the notice.
"Kindly approve to enable organise the proposing of the aforementioned companies in the AFA-IMIS system," the notice read on.
In December 2022, Treasury Cabinet Secretary Njuguna Ndung'u announced, through a gazette notice, a three-month window for importing duty-free sugar.
According to the CS, the window was aimed at easing the sugar crisis in the country that has seen the prices skyrocket.
Data from the Kenya National Bureau of Standards (KNBS) indicated that a kilogram of sugar averaged at Ksh156.78 in November 2022 up from Ksh127.27 in the same period in 2021.
"In light of the notification of the current sugar crisis in the country by the Cabinet Secretary for Agriculture and Livestock Development, the Cabinet Secretary for the National Treasury and Economic Planning directs that 100,000 metric tonnes of brown or mill white sugar may be imported into the country duty-free later than March 31, 2023," read the gazette notice in parts.
He also directed the duty-free importation of 900,000 metric tonnes of white maize grain and 600,000 metric tonnes of milled rice.
The ministry directed all imports to be done before August 6, 2023.
"In consequence of the notification of an impending food crisis in the country, the Ministry of Agriculture has granted the importation to have adequate stocks to last until the next harvest from July-August 2023," the notice read in parts.
