The Kenya Bureau of Standards (Kebs) is a key state organ whose mandate is to ensure goods traded and used in the country are of required quality. However, the agency has time and again failed to carry out its responsibilities effectively due to endless wars amid claims of vested interests. Its current chief executive is now in the crosshairs of the police over allegations of threatening a colleague.
Previous top executives at Kebs have found themselves in all manner of trouble; some charged with corruption and abuse of office for letting illicit goods into the country and for procurement crimes. Some have been hounded out of office because they did not heed to the demands of cartels that would like to have their way to import sub-standard goods. Such incidents only go towards weakening an organisation that is the life blood of the nation.