Interior CS Fred Matiang’i has remained non-committal on whether contraband sugar contains mercury.
Speaking on Thursday, the CS told MPs that lab tests were still ongoing to determine the impurities contained in the sugar.
“Chairman am very hesitant to commit myself to a conclusive test. Even as we sit here this morning, our security teams are testing some of the sugar. Any sugar that has been released and is in the market has been released by Kenya Bureau of Standards (Kebs) Kenya Revenue Authority (KRA) and the Anti-Counterfeit Agency. I cannot vouch for sugar that is still in police custody,” Matiang’i said.
The CS was speaking when he appeared before the parliamentary committee probing the matter.
The CS said that the results will be out on July 5.
Despite pressure from MPs, Matiang'i refused to disclose the status of the results that have so far been released by the government chemist.
“The CID out of the work that had been done gave us a summative report that talks about some of the heavy metals found some of the harmful chemicals found in these goods. The list is long it’s not just mercury, lead and copper,” he said.