MPs Raise More Questions than Answers in Controversial Sugar Report

Parliament has found that the import licence at the centre of the controversial 27,000-tonne sugar shipment may have been issued without the legally required quorum, exposing what it describes as a breakdown in regulatory oversight. 

• An interim report by the National Assembly Departmental Committee on Trade, Industry and Cooperatives concludes that the Kenya Sugar Board (KSB) approved Mombasa Sugar Refinery Limited's import license on June 1 despite having only three serving directors, far below the eight-member quorum required under the Sugar Act.
• The committee's findings shift the inquiry from isolated questions over documentation and tax treatment to the integrity of the institutions that approved, monitored and tracked the shipment from the moment it entered the country.
• However, the report does not determine conclusively if the sugar was unsafe for consumption and has not confirmed allegations that it contained heavy metals, with lawmakers saying that will require further investigation. 

The committee found that official documents submitted by the Kenya Sugar Board (KSB) and Mombasa Sugar Refinery identified South Africa as the source of the imported sugar. However, minutes of a Treasury meeting held on 23 February referred to the same consignment as originating from Brazil. 

Lawmakers said the discrepancy meant they could not conclusively establish the sugar's country of origin, despite certificates of origin, non-radioactivity and non-GMO compliance having been issued by the South African Sugar Association.

According to the report, laboratory tests conducted by the Kenya Revenue Authority (KRA) identified the consignment as cane brown sugar, while testing undertaken by SGS on behalf of the Kenya Bureau of Standards (KEBS) classified it as raw cane sugar. 

The committee acknowledged the contradiction and recommended fresh independent laboratory testing of both the imported raw sugar and the refined sugar already produced from it.

Although lawmakers inspected storage facilities at the Port of Mombasa, Nairobi Freight Terminal Autoport, and the refinery site in Kisumu County, they concluded they were unable to independently verify the quantities of sugar held at each location. 

That finding undermines confidence in official records tracking the movement of the 27,000-tonne shipment and comes after MPs had earlier questioned why portions of the sugar were distributed across multiple storage facilities instead of being transported directly to the refinery.