YVONNE'S TAKE: The hot and cold of KEBS

In the past week, we have seen a rather curious back and forth from a very important body in this country. A somewhat alarming notice was issued to Kenyans by the Kenya Bureau of Standards. The statement contained a list of 10 household cooking brands that according to the bureau were non-compliant.

The statement went on to ask retailers to recall those brands and remove them from supply across all their outlets across the country. 

Now, this statement was problematic to me in several ways. First, it curiously did not address the consumers of those products, neither did it tell them what to do, in the event that they have actually purchased those products and they were in fact using them in their homes.

Secondly, it was rather vague. They termed the 10 brands “non-compliant”. What does non-compliant actually mean? Are they still fit for human consumption? Are they poisonous? Do they have too much or too little of something that is not good for us? What happens if we use these products? If we get ill, or develop some symptoms, what are we to do? What are those symptoms anyway?

Consider that these 10 brands are rather popular and are likely in your kitchen right now. How do you know that what you have in your house is safe? Safe for you and your children? Granted, they said it is a suspension, not a ban. But the products were recalled, so I am not sure how that really reassures us as consumers.

Ban. Or suspension. Those words mean nothing in the face of such a sweeping statement and measures on 10 cooking oil brands.

Let’s address that recall. What did it involve exactly? Did they speak to all retailers and ensure that all products that were on that list were fully taken back to the factories? And by all retailers, I am not just talking about the big retail outlets and supermarket chains, but also the kiosk round the corner. And when the products were all recalled and back to the factory, what if anything was done about them?

Were they destroyed, so that they perhaps do not make their way back to the shelves? In addition, what sort of penalty was served to the companies who produced “non-compliant” products?

Then there is the bizarre happening that took place just a few days after the suspension. There was a press conference to supposedly clarify the statement further. This took place just days later. And it was here that things again took a different turn, we were informed as Kenyans that the suspension on those products had been lifted. Just like that.

In the span of 5 days or less, the country’s watchdog had suspended 10 products and then lifted that suspension. We were not told how those products now became compliant. In fact, what’s worse is we were never told what was in them, or what was not in them that made them non-compliant and whether they were harmful to us in one way or another.

For a consumer watchdog information, this back and forth was alarming and unhelpful. The Kenya Bureau of Standards is the consumer watchdog. One that we all depend on to keep us safe from harmful products, unscrupulous individuals and manufacturers and others who might want to harm us by taking short cuts. Or some who might want to put profit before human lives. But when the watchdog tells us that some products are suspended and then unsuspends them a few days later, what really happened in those few days?

Consumers deserve, timely, accurate, information about products they purchase. Their health and safety is of paramount importance. Kenyans deserve this. Nothing less.