War against fake drugs intensified in Kenya

Counterfeit pharmaceutical products PHOTO: COURTESY

Powerful cartels dealing in counterfeit pharmaceutical products are threatening the lives of people in Kenya and across the globe.

Experts meeting in Mombasa on Friday said the cartels targeted the Mombasa port because of its strategic position and its huge hinterland, and called for stringent measures to counter the trade.

Pharmacy and Poisons Board Senior Inspector Athman Hemed pointed out the lenient sentences given to those who deal in counterfeit medicine despite the risks they posed to Kenyans' health. Mr Hemed noted that a counterfeit offender could be jailed for only six months compared to those involved in narcotic drugs who spend many years in prison.

The two-day regional meeting on combating pharmaceutical counterfeits and piracy drew participants from 15 African port countries including Kenya, Tanzania, South Africa, Mozambique, Angola, Togo, Benin, Senegal, Namibia, Cote de Voire and Gabon. The meeting was organised by the Kenya Revenue Authority, World Customs Organisation and Institute of Research Against Counterfeit Medicines (IRACM)

"Our laws are lenient on counterfeit offenders although they are now a major threat to life as these medical products can be highly poisonous," Hemed warned.

KRA Mombasa regional manager John Bisonga said the taxman would fully co-operate with Interpol in an effort to eradicate counterfeits.

"We are going to co-operate fully with Interpol and other organisations committed to fighting counterfeits coming through our borders," Mr Bisonga pledged.

Sandra Wens, a technical expert on international property rights, health and safety at the World Customs Organisation, warned that although sold cheaply, counterfeit pesticides posed a great danger to humans when applied to crops.

HUMAN HEALTH

"Counterfeit pesticides stay in plants longer after application and have big consequences on human health. We are reaching out to the private sector to boost the campaign to combat counterfeits in the world," Ms Wens said.

The IRACM Director of Studies, Wilfred Roge, said they were mainly targeting port countries in Africa in the campaign to combat counterfeits as most such products were secretly being moved through the ports. He explained that about 750 million units of counterfeit medicines had been intercepted in 23 countries since 2012.

He said that a $1,000 (about Sh100,000) investment in cocaine yielded about $20,000 (about Sh2 million) but a similar investment in counterfeit medicines could rake in between $200,000 (about Sh20 million) and $500,000 (about Sh50 million).

The latest tactics used by counterfeiters include changing routes and using trans-shipments, keeping goods in countries where the risk of detection is lower before being sent to their ultimate destinations, false invoicing and complicity with intermediaries.

The participants also discussed how to distinguish between genuine and fake pharmaceutical products.