Trade Committee Probes De-Gazettement And Subsequent Appointment Of Inspectors At The Bureau Of Standard
By PSCU
The National Assembly’s Trade, Industry and Cooperatives Committee over the weekend convened a meeting with Dr. Juma Mukhwana, the Principal Secretary, State Department for Industry, and Ms. Esther Ngari, the Acting Managing Director of the Kenya Bureau of Standards (KEBS) over the recent de-gazettements and subsequent appointments of inspectors.
The Committee led by James Gakuya (Embakasi North), also sought to determine whether the newly appointed inspectors were considered public officers or members of the institute, and whether the exercise had been carried out in response to a request from the National Standards Council in accordance with the Standards Act.
The Ministry of Trade, Investments and Industry degazetted 39 KEBS inspectors as of September 1, 2023, and then subsequently published the names of new employees to fill the positions.
During the meeting , Dr. Mukhwana emphasized the crucial role that inspectors play in examining commodities, materials and operations, as well as in confiscating goods and documents when the Standards Act is violated. He pointed out that the authority of inspectors is defined in Section 14 of the Standards Act.
Legislators however raised inquiries regarding the criteria used for appointing the new inspectors, the credibility of the selection process and the timeframe within which the Ministry conducted the recruitment.
It was clarified that the gazetting and de-gazetting had been carried out with the approval of the National Standards Council, in accordance with the provisions of the Standards Act.
Ms. Ngari explained that the inspectors were already existing employees within the organization who had received comprehensive training in investigation techniques. Additionally, KEBS was tasked with providing the Committee with information on the total number of inspectors employed by the Bureau within a period of seven days.
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