MPs question legitimacy of KEBS new boss Bernard Njiraini

Trade and Industrialization Chief Administrative Secretary, Lawrence Karanja, was Tuesday morning taken to task to explain how the new Kenya Bureau of Standards (KEBS) Managing Director, Bernard Njiraini, was appointed.

This is after Kipkelion West MP Hillary Kosgei questioned the legitimacy of his appointment claiming that the appointment of Njiraini was unprocedural.

The MP presented before the National Assembly Trade Committee headed by Kanini Kega, a list of people who were sidestepped in the appointment yet they scored higher marks than the appointed Managing Director.

MP’s cited several irregularities in his appointment which they argue were driven by partisan interests. They alleged that Njiraini who took over the reins from Bernard Nguyo had emerged a distant sixth in a series of interviews conducted by the KEBS board and a hired consultant.

Claims by the CAS that there was a case in court on the same did not sway members of the committee who demanded that he returns on Tuesday next week with satisfying response.

They asked him to authenticate documents presented by the MP and also find out the why two separate interviews were conducted for the job.

Mr Njiraini, a retired military officer, worked with the Kenya Air Force for 17 years in different capacities in administration and planning, as an instructor and as an engineer in a military industrial complex at Eldoret. He also served in the Africa Forces Mission in Sudan Darfur Union as from 2006 to 2007.

The development coming even as KEBS defended itself against the recent lowering of penalties on uncertified goods from 20% to 5%.

KEBS in the meantime admitted that it lacks the capacity to inspect all vehicles being imported into the country.

It said it is in the process of recruiting additional staff to enable it meet the demands of effective certification of goods being imported into the country.

KEBS has in the recent months come under sharp criticism over the presence of substandard goods in the Kenyan market and its alleged ineffectiveness in preventing contaminated food from accessing the market.