8 Top Govt Officials Nabbed as 20 Others Put Under Surveillance

Eight officials from the Kenya Bureau of Standards (KEBS) were reported to have been suspended on Sunday as the government escalated its crackdown on individuals believed to be behind fake fertiliser distribution. 

The officials were interdicted on suspicion they were part of a larger group that issued KEBS mark of quality to two companies distributing substandard fertiliser. 

As such, two companies used the issued KEBS stamps to distribute the fake fertiliser under the government-subsidised fertiliser program. 

Additionally, it was reported that close to twenty KEBS officers were under surveillance over the fake fertiliser scandal. 

Directorate of Criminal Investigations (DCI) officers are also exploring the possibility that two companies that have been suspended acted without knowledge of KEBS. 

This is through deviating from the KEBS-approved fertilisers and starting packaging substandard fertiliser while using a prior KEBS approval. 

Initially, the government had denied reports that there was fake fertiliser being sold to Kenyan farmers. 

On different occasions, Agriculture Cabinet Secretary Mithika Linturi and Government Spokesperson Isaac Mwaura blamed the opposition for spreading a false narrative. 

Linturi made the remarks even after a Principal Secretary in his ministry had suspended one company believed to have manufactured the substandard fertiliser. 

On Friday, 5, the government had a turnaround and admitted that there were cases of fake fertiliser being sold under the guise of subsidised products. 

Deputy President Rigathi Gachagua on Sunday, April 7, assured Kenyans that the fake fertiliser would not threaten Kenya’s food security. 

“The quantity of fake fertilizer involved is very low,  out of 40 million bags of fertilizer distributed under the program, approximately 50,000 bags have been identified as counterfeit,” Gachagua stated.