Kenya: The Heaven for Contraband and Expired Goods

The events that have unfolded in the recent days should send chills down the spines of Kenyans. The country is slowly becoming the nation of the walking dead not to mention the choking corruption.

During the week, government officials netted more than 1,500 bags of sugar that had already expired and market ‘not fit for human consumption’ in Eastleigh, Nairobi. The sugar was being repackaged in known brands such as Kabras and Mumias to be sold to Kenyans. It is not yet clear whether part of the sugar had already been packaged and sold to unsuspecting Kenyans.

Authorities say that the sugar came from Brazil. Questions: why was expired sugar imported from Brazil? How did the sugar pass through Mombasa or wherever to Kenya without being suspected? How did the sugar travel all the way, through roadblocks to Nairobi without being impounded?

As if that was not enough, Kenyan authorities also arrested some Chinese businessmen who were showcasing their fake electronics at Kenyatta International Conference Center (KICC). Again, who cleared the two Chinese into KICC? How did they pass through checkpoints from wherever they came from into Kenya and went to KICC?

On Friday, KRA officials raided a warehouse in Industrial Area, Nairobi and found a whole factory that was producing goods without the authorization of KEBS. Question: How long have they been producing those goods? How many Kenyans have already consumed the unapproved goods?

Last month, thousands of drugs that are used for pregnancy termination were netted at JKIA. The importers of the drugs were never named and all the drugs were headed to the black market.

If the crackdown was carried out in less than a month and such volumes of counterfeits were netted, how many are already in the market? What is the health risk of these products? The government is cracking the whip because the products have been found to be costing the country billions of shillings in terms of unpaid revenue. What about health? What would have happened if Kenyans consumed the more than 1,500 bags of expired sugar?

The government should start by putting its house in order. The checkpoints in our borders have been weakened by corruption and Kenyans are slowly dying. Soon, we shall be a fully recognized land of the dead unless we act.