[A file photo of a tea farm in Kisii. A KTDA logistics assistant was arraigned in court for allegedly using unjust scales to obstruct inspectors. Photo/Standard]
A Kenya Tea Development Authority logistics assistant was on Wednesday arraigned in
an
Ogembo court on four charges among them using an unjust scale and obstructing an inspector in the course of duty.
The offence was alleged to have been committed at Riochuoto Tea Buying Centre at
4:25 p.m.
contrary to section 28 as read with section 63 of the weights and measures act cap.513, in the Laws of Kenya.
He was also charged with using a scale whose official seal had been tampered with and using an unjust scale whose measurements were set to produce erroneous results of minus 2.2 kilograms per consignment.Haron Nyamari Mang’erere a logistics assistant at Nyamache tea factory was charged with the four offences that he and others not before the court committed at Riochoto tea buying center in Bobasi constituency, Kisii County.According to the prosecutor Mr Mutibo, the accused threatened the weights and measures officers and mobilized boda boda operators who forcefully took the weighing scale that had been found faulty and seized by the officers.“The accused not only obstructed the Weights and Measures officers by ensuring the electronic scale was taken by his boda boda accomplices, but also threatened the officers with actual physical harm,” said Mr Mutibo.He told the court that the accused had accosted the Weights and Measures officers James Maingi and Peter Kilungya who had visited the tea buying centre for purposes of inspecting the weighing process.The accused refused to sign the seizure note he had been issued upon confiscation of the electronic scale.He then called on his colleagues who came with motorbikes and seized the weighing scale from the officers. A number of colleagues also came with four KTDA vehicles and started pursuing the double cabin GK Vehicle that the inspectors were using. Sensing danger, the inspectors then drove to the nearest Nyamache sub-county District commissioners’ offices where the area OCPD Japheth Mwirichia shielded them from the irate crowd.Mr Mwirichia then called the Nyamache Tea Factory manager who brought the suspect into the administrative centre where police officers took him into custody The police boss later provided security officers who escorted the Weights and Measures inspectors and journalists as they drove out of the sub-county.In the run-up to the incident, the inspection exercise was being carried out unannounced in Kisii and Nyamira counties following numerous complaints from tea farmers of suspected corruption in the sector.Unscrupulous logistics officers on the ground officers have been allegedly using unjust scales to steal thousands of kilograms of the crop’s leaves from unsuspecting farmers at the buying centers. During the raid that was exclusively covered by the Nation, details emerged on how the logistics assistant officers tamper with the weighing machines to enable them record kilograms less than the actual weight of the consignments delivered to the buying centres.At the Riochuoto buying centre, the officers discovered that the electronic scale had been rigged to produce an error of 2.2 kilos per consignment of tea leaf.While he did not object to the right of the accused to ask for bond, the prosecution noted that Mr Nyamari had threatened the state officers and witnesses at the time of arrest and asked the court to grant prohibitive bond terms to deter him from interfering with the investigation once released.“The court should take the conduct of the accused during his arrest into account since he threatened to run over the state officers from the weights and measures department who has seized his weighing scale. We ask the court to set prohibitive bond terms to deter him from interfering with the investigations into the case,” he said.Before Resident Magistrate Carolyne Ateya, the suspect who was not represented denied the offence and was granted a bond of Sh 80,000 with surety of a similar amount or a cash bail of Sh 25,000.
Mention for the case was set for June 28, with the hearing date scheduled for
December 20, 2017
.