Condemned sugar scam: KMPDU claims political leaders not interested in protecting public health

By Robert Mutasi

The Kenya Medical Practitioners, Pharmacists and Dentists Union (KMPDU) has accused political leaders of failing to protect public health.

Instead, the union claims, the leaders have been pushing their interests and not minding the well-being of members of the public.

Speaking during an interview with Citizen TV on Friday, KMPDU National Secretary General Davji Atellah further claimed that the political leaders had failed in expecting their mandate.

According to the KMPDU Secretary General, the leaders are going after profits rather than the services they are supposed to give the citizens. 

"The reality is that our leaders and our people who are in power regardless of what level whether it is management or it is elected positions, they all go for profits over the people that they supposed to serve," claimed Atellah.

He made the comment at a time detectives are piecing together circumstances under which a consignment of 20,000 bags of condemned sugar was released to the public.

Already, at least 27 senior government officials have been suspended over the incident, among them Kenya Bureau of Standards (KEBS) Managing Director Bernard Njiraini.

"It is already out, it is being consumed by the public. This toxicity profile of mercury is known and people will have a little bit of result from it and these will actually result in some of the conditions that will be treated in the hospitals," noted the KMPDU boss.

He called for all those involved in the irregular release of the consignment to be arrested and prosecuted.

The sugar arrived in the country in June 2018 and was declared unfit for human consumption.

KEBS had recommended that it be converted into ethanol to avoid it finding a way to the market.

The consignment was released from a Mombasa storage facility in April for conversion but mysteriously went missing from a go-down in Nairobi.