National Assembly's Departmental Committee on Trade has stopped the destruction of condemned sugar that was scheduled for Friday, July 21.
The decision was reached following a committee meeting chaired by James Gakuya (Embakasi North) on Thursday, July 20, where the head of the agency responsible for the destruction of the 49 containers of illicit sugar explained that the process was imminent.
MPs also sought clarification on reports alleging that despite the entire consignment being declared unfit for consumption, some bags were unlawfuly released to the public.
While directing the agency to postpone the destruction, committee members raised grave concerns about the agency's suitability to oversee the process.
The MPs argued that the agency was implicated in the ongoing investigation of the release of 40 containers of illicit sugar into the Kenyan market.
“This Committee is devoted to thoroughly examining this issue to guarantee the safety and protection of Kenyan citizens and to ensure that none of that remaining sugar is sneaked into the market again," the committee's chair stated.
The sugar in question arrived in Kenya in 2018 from Zimbabwe and was stored at a warehouse in Thika, pending its release.
At least 63 per cent of the 1.3 million bags of sugar imported duty-free were ascertained to be unfit for human consumption, forcing former President Uhuru Kenyatta's regime to order its destruction.
A multi-agency unit comprising KEBS and the National Environment Management Authority (NEMA) was to oversee its conversion to ethanol.
Concerns were raised after the condemned sugar disappeared from the warehouse in Thika in April 2023.
A month later, in May 2023, President William Ruto suspended Kenya Bureau of Standards Managing Director, Bernard Njiraini among other agency leaders accused of releasing the sugar.
"In recognition of the unique mandate of the agencies as vanguards of public health and safety, it is manifest that some officers in the relevant agencies abdicated their responsibilities, at the risk of public harm.
"Consequently, it is noted that the Cabinet Secretaries for National Treasury and Economic Planning, and Investments, Trade and Industry, have sanctioned administrative action to suspend the officers pending investigations," read a statement by Ruto's Chief of Staff, Felix Koskei at the time.
