Is Kebs culpable for contraband goods across the country?

It is the duty of the Kenya Bureau of Standards (Kebs) to guarantee quality and ensure that whatever gets into the Kenyan market meets safety requirements. Yet for as long as many can remember, Kebs exists only in name. It is an institution on which billions of shillings of taxpayers’ money is spent annually without any returns.

The first obvious sign that either the standards body is out of its depth or complicit in corruption became evident when cheap battery brands flooded the country and consequently led to the closure and relocation of the giant household name Eveready that had dominated the Kenyan market for long.

It is interesting that even as a regulatory authority with enough power, Kebs always cries foul over low quality contraband, in the same way as the common people who have no means to protect themselves against powerful forces out to harm them in their quest for quick money. Only recently, Kebs complained about the fake mineral water in the market, yet did nothing about it. In fact, the number and code they gave the public to check the authenticity of quality marks on goods does not work. I have tried it several times without success.

The discovery of fake quality labels being manufactured by senior Kebs officials inside the institution’s premises and the arrest of top officials on corruption-related charges erase any doubts on whether the agency is responsible for the rampant corruption and low quality contraband in Kenya: it is solely responsible.

Ms Mideva is a resident of Nairobi