KEBS warns manufacturers over fake officials

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The Kenya Bureau of Standards (KEBS) has urged businesses to remain vigilant against individuals masquerading as its officials.

The agency is advising manufacturers to always demand official Identification Numbers (ID) and the staff number, which they can use to verify the credentials.

KEBS advised that they can type the staff number followed by the hash sign and send it to 20023. This it says, will show the name and the ID number of the person.

Speaking after the media round table and laboratory tour at their Headquarters in Nairobi, KEBS chief executive, Esther Ngari, warned that imposters are exploiting the bureau's mandate to extort unsuspecting manufacturers.

Ngari emphasised that proper verification is key to safeguarding businesses from fraudulent activities.

She said that KEBS' mandate is to protect consumers by heightened inspections during importation and local production.

“In trade facilitation, we need assessment, which includes testing of products, inspection for all the products and also the products that are produced locally. Just to make sure that the products are tested and everybody who is trading in Kenya and implementing the standards and therefore they can access the Kenyan market as well as abroad,” said Esther Ngari, Managing Director KEBS.

She added that the laboratories are accredited to the international standards and therefore any product that is tested in the laboratories means that the product can access the global market because the certificate is accepted globally.

“In terms of consumer protection, the Kenyan Bureau of Standards ensures that any product that is in the Kenyan market has been tested and meets the Kenyan standards. This is because we want to ensure that our consumers are well protected. After all, as a consumer, you are not able to test the product easily.”

When testing the products, especially the local products. They ensure they comply with the Kenyan standards and every product has a mark of quality which the consumer can be able to verify before they procure any product. These are for local products.

“For the imported products, we have the import standardisation mark that the consumer can check and verify that it is a good product. It is a very simple way of checking or verifying the mark of the product by sending a text message to 20023. If it is an S mark, you send an SM hash, the number on the S mark to 20023 and then the message you get back will tell you who the manufacturer is, whether the S mark is valid or not and you will be able to verify,” she explained.

Ngari highlighted that with the growth in terms of technology, they are embracing it and today people can trade from their house, they have e-commerce, Artificial Intelligence and a lot of things have changed.

“With the new standards bill that is currently progressing very well can bring these changes into the way we operate to help us protect consumers more, to help us regulate products which are also on e-commerce.”

“The other changes that have happened in the bill are the penalties, which were there in 1974, definitely in terms of enforcement of the standards act, the penalties were small, they were negligible and therefore we have reviewed that as well to make sure that Kenyans are protected,” she added.

Quality assurance and Inspection director Geoffrey Murira maintained that their mandate as a bureau is to regulate the trade by ensuring that the products imported or manufactured locally meet the standard in order to protect consumers.