Lawmaker calls for probe of top Kebs officials over edible oil saga

Nyeri,

Thursday, December 7, 2023

KNA by Samuel Maina

Nyeri Town MP Duncan Mathenge has called for a probe of top Kenya Bureau of Standards (Kebs) officials over controversy surrounding the safety of 125,000 MT cooking oil that was recently shipped into the country.

 The consignment which had earlier on been flagged as unfit for human consumption by the agency was later declared as safe this week after the Kebs gave it a clean bill of health.

In a letter dated September this year and addressed to the National Trading Corporation (KNTC), Kebs had ordered for the reshipping of the consignment to its country of origin within 30 days or have it destroyed owing to safety concerns.

But early this week Kebs declared the imported edible oil safe for human consumption since it had met the health and safety standards although it had failed to meet the required Vitamin A levels.

Now Mathenge says the top management at the quality assurance agency should explain to Kenyans how a consignment it had flagged later passed the safety test.

He has also called for samples of the said oil to be sent to the National Quality Control Laboratory at the Pharmacy and Poisons Board headquarters to verify its safety parameters.

“The Kenya Bureau of Standards has lost the moral ground on which it can stand and tell Kenyans what is safe and what is detrimental for them to consume going by what has transpired in regard to the edible oil import. It is unconvincing how the agency can flag an entire consignment of oil as unfit for human consumption and later change tune and give the same a clean bill of health.

 The top management of Kebs should be interrogated on the mystery surrounding the safety of this oil consignment before it is released for consumption to innocent Kenyans,” he said during Kameme’s Rikiratha morning show.

Mathenge has also called for a probe on KNTC top leadership and any other State official in the Ministry of Trade who may have been involved in the importation of the controversial oil.

He said every effort should be taken to shield Kenyans from being exposed to consumer products that do not meet safety standards akin to what transpired during the 2018 condemned sugar import saga.

On fears over the country’s fiscal program, the MP has allayed fears of Kenya joining the list of failed economies insisting that the Government economic projections are right on course.     

He has also dismissed those faulting the State for going for multilateral loans to fund local expenditure needs by stating that Parliament had approved borrowing of an additional sh 600 billion to plug the country’s revenue deficit in its Sh 3.7 trillion 2023/20234 budget.

“Everyone knows the country needs money to run its operations with funds coming from either domestic revenue or from external borrowing. According to the budget estimates that were tabled in Parliament in June this year, the county was to borrow an additional Sh 600 billion to help fund its expenditure obligations.

 However, we also agreed to systematically cut down our borrowing as we move along to avoid straining the country’s ability in repaying her debts. But be as it may, the country can never run its operation solely dependent on its domestic taxes,” he stated.

On Monday Mukurwe-ini MP John Kaguchia called for adoption of a public debt register to curb unregulated borrowing by the government.

The lawmaker, who was responding to reports from a section of the media in regard to the country’s debt burden, said the only way the county can evaluate the value for the money it borrows is through having a checklist system to ascertain whether such funds are needed.  

He said the move would save the country from borrowing money that is not needed and also curb wastages through investing loans into nonviable projects.

“As far as the issue of debt is concerned, we have to understand that debt that is taken by the government affects our lives and one of the elements we must put to the government is to have a public register of the debt that is being collected. We must know who is taking what, where, when, why, at what condition, at what cost, repayment period and the effects it is going to have on the economy. This is because in the past we have had instances where money was borrowed and put into projects that cannot pay back. Money should only be borrowed if it adds value to the economy,” said Kaguchia during today’s Citizen’s breakfast show.

The MP also dismissed claims that the current government has performed poorly in terms of fiscal policy and management of public debt insisting that President Dr William Ruto was doing his best in addressing the debt burden he inherited from his predecessor Uhuru Kenyatta.

Kaguchia also dismissed claims that the government had inherited a Sh 8.7 trillion debt when it came into power by terming the figure a misrepresentation of facts since this did not include money that had been sunk as subsidies to cushion the public against the high cost of fuel and maize flour.

A report in one of the local dailies claimed the country’s public debt grew from Sh 8.7 trillion when Uhuru was leaving office to Sh10.58 trillion in September this year, an increase of 386 per cent.

Courtesy; KNA