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Ikiara's reign as acting Kebs managing director ends

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Kenya Investment Authority (KenInvest) managing director Moses Ikiara. FILE PHOTO | NMG

Kenya Investment Authority (KenInvest) managing director Moses Ikiara’s three-month contract at the Kenya Bureau of Standards (Kebs) has come to an end.

Mr Ikiara on Friday confirmed that his appointment in an acting capacity at the Kebs came to an end a month ago.

Industry, Trade and Cooperatives secretary Peter Munya appointed Bernard Nguyo, who has been Kebs quality assurance officer for seven years, as the agency’s acting managing director.

“I moved from Kebs like a month ago. It was becoming too hard for me to handle the two jobs at the same time,” said Dr Ikiara.

He was on June 28 appointed for a three-month period in an acting capacity at the standards agency following the arrest of Charles Ongwae and nine others senior officials over the importation of sub-standard sugar suspected to have been contaminated with mercury and copper.

The officials were also arrested and charged in connection with sub-standard fertiliser imports.

Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) Noordin Haji said investigations revealed that the Kebs officials had colluded with the directors of a local fertiliser firm OCP allowing into the country fertiliser that had been rejected for being sub-standard.

The 5.846 million kilogrammes of fertiliser imported from Morocco “failed to meet the standard set by the Kebs and was rejected.”

“The company appealed against the first testing whereupon the second testing it failed to meet the standard again. That notwithstanding, the fertiliser was released into the market as opposed to destruction or reshipping to the country of origin,” said the DPP.