Bad fertiliser: Government shuts down KEL Chemicals
Agriculture CS, Mithika Linturi (right), KEL Chemicals General Manager, Chandrabhan Chimurkar (centre) and KEL Chemicals advocate, Victor Mosota inspecting the company's plant in Thika, Kiambu.
What you need to know:
- KEL Chemicals General Manager Chandrabhan Chimurkah said they had conducted their in-house Investigations and established that there was some hitch in the production process in the period between March 5 and 10, 2024.
- Operations in the powder section at KEL Chemicals which mixed the fertiliser have been shut down already resulting in the job loss of some 150 people out of the total 275 who regularly work at the company.
The government has withdrawn the licence of KEL Chemicals, the Thika-based company alleged to have supplied farmers with substandard fertilisers under the government fertiliser subsidy programme.
This was said by the Agriculture Cabinet Secretary Mithika Linturi moments after visiting the aforementioned company and inspecting where the fertiliser was manufactured, mixed, packaged and eventually distributed to farmers across the country.
"I want to confirm that we have withdrawn the licence of KEL chemicals and this area is now considered a crime scene with no operations until the Investigations on this matter are completed," he said.
The CS also said the State will not release any money owed to KEL for the bags they have already supplied in the country until the probe into the matter is concluded.
On his part, Chandrabhan Chimurkah, the General Manager of KEL Chemicals, said they had conducted their in-house Investigations and established that there was some hitch in the production process in the period between March 5 and 10, 2024.
This hitch, he explained, affected some 3,000 bags which they are currently tracing with some 516 bags already found and taken by the Kenya Revenue Authority for tests to be conducted by the relevant government authorities.
"In my understanding, what happened was a slight problem where the ingredients being mixed could have been contaminated during the production.
"It could be that a few workers stepped on them or some ingredients fell and they collected them and put them in the bags, " he said.
Thus far, operations in the powder section at KEL Chemicals which mixed the fertiliser have been shut down resulting in the job loss of some 150 people out of the total 275 who regularly work at the company.
"We are working with the government to trace all the bags and we will cooperate all through," Mr Chimurkar said.
He further explained that for the four decades he has been operating in the fertiliser industry, he has never had any issues regarding the quality of his products.
Victor Mosota, KEL Chemical's advocate said that they had done due diligence and will soon avail more details on the matter.
"We did not receive any complaints from our clients and only became aware of this issue through the media. We have done some probe and we will issue a full statement on the matter upon conclusion of the Investigations. For now, we comply with the government directive," he said.
This withdrawal of the licence comes a week after the Ministry of Agriculture suspended the operations of KEL Chemicals and ordered immediate confiscation of its fertiliser products sold in the Kenyan market.
A directive that came after the completion of the testing of all fertilisers being distributed to farmers across the country.
According to the tests carried out by the Kenya Bureau of Standards (Kebs), Kelphos Plus, Kelphos gold and NPK 10:26:10 manufactured by KEL Chemicals did not meet the stipulated requirements.
