Kenya Members of parliament Wednesday alleged that the US coerced the government to allow importation of white maize whose moisture content was controversial.
Consequently deputy speaker Farah Maalim has directed a Parliamentary Committee to probe the allegations.
In a letter authored by US Ambassador Michael Rannerberger to industrialization minister Henry Kosgey, the US urged the government to compel the Kenya Bureau of Standards- KEBs- to allow clearance of the white maize whose moisture content was 14 per cent.
In the request Rannerberger explains that since the imports were not for building stocks but for immediate consumption following the government’s declaration of food emergency last January, the moisture content was not a health threat.
But KEBs in rejecting the 19000 metric ton cargo of the white maize from the US indicated that the moisture content exceeded the required 13.5 percent moisture content stipulated for the purpose of building stocks.
But in his correspondence to the minister Rannerberger argued that the maize was not for storage but for immediate consumption and should therefore be cleared.
He claimed that the US federal grain inspection service had cleared the maize and found it to be almost perfect and exceeded all health related standards for which white maize is commonly tested.
He claimed that the continued embargo on the imports at the port of Mombasa was delaying another shipment of about 250,000 tons en route to Kenya.
He said the delay would jeopardize a planned credit guarantee package that was aimed at assisting Kenyan importers and millers pay for those imports.
Industrialization minister Henry Kosgey was at pains to explain why the imports were allowed yet the moisture content bordered on aflatoxin.
He insisted that since the maize was not for storage, it was safe for consumption.
The matter however saw rising emotions with Rannerberger’s conduct featuring prominently as MPs set the stage for heated debate over his conduct through a motion introduced by Silas Ruteere.
Aflatoxin is a silent killer that causes liver cancer and suppresses the immune system. It also retards growth and development in children. People exposed to very high aflatoxin concentrations experience liver failure and rapid death. From 2004 to 2006, nearly 200 unsuspecting people in Kenya died in this manner after eating highly contaminated maize. Aflatoxin is a colorless toxin which is invisible and only laboratory tests can confirm its presence.
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