A lawyer close to opposition chief Raila Odinga has resorted to importing sugar for his family from Europe following reports that recently imported sugar from South America contains poisonous mercury mineral which is harmful to the body.
Donald Kipkorir on Thursday said he will not take his and his family's health for granted by risking consuming locally sold sugar which he said was repackaged before it began retailing in shops and supermarkets.
There has been growing concern among Kenyans over the consumption suitability of the sugar currently in the market following reports two weeks ago that some sugar shipped into the country was poisonous and was thus unfit for human consumption.
"As Kenya allowed one billion kilograms of unprocessed sugar to be imported, most of which has been re-packaged for domestic consumption, I have abandoned sugar packaged in Kenya. Henceforth, I will be using sugar packaged in England, my beloved colonial power,'' Kipkorir said in a Facebook post on Thursday.
Most of the sugar said to contain mercury samples according to Interior and Coordination of National Government Cabinet Secretary Fred Matiang'i was imported from Brazil.
The subject of the poisonous sugar has been so divisive that even senior government officials contradicted themselves over the issue.
Whereas Matiang'i said such sugar, after tests were done by Kenya Bureau of Standards and the University of Nairobi, was actually in the country, his industrialisation counterpart Adan Mohamed insisted there was no such sugar in Kenyan shops.