Suspected mastermind in sugar scandal arrested, to be arraigned today

He joins five other traders from Mombasa, Kajiado and Nairobi who will be facing charges relating to the theft and distribution of the contaminated sugar into the local market.  

Chrispus Waithaka, the man believed to have masterminded the theft of the contaminated sugar was arrested by DCI officers as soon as he disembarked from the plane. In what appears to have been a well-planned move, Waithaka had a copy of an interim order for anticipatory bail of Ksh.100,000 granted by the high court in Mombasa. 

He was booked at the Kamukunji police station and will be arraigned in court on Monday. 

He joins five other traders from Mombasa, Kajiado and Nairobi who will be facing charges relating to the theft and distribution of the contaminated sugar into the local market.  They will also be arraigned on Monday. 

Samwel Kimani Njuguna, of SamWest distributors, Kawangware is among those who were arrested in the course of last week for handling the condemned and stolen consignment of sugar.  

In his statement to the police, Kimani has indicated that he brought in 1,640 bags of the sugar in three trailers to his distribution depot in Kawangware, but police believe that the quantity of sugar that passed through his premises and consequently into the Kawangware catchment area is much higher than he stated. 

The store is under police watch as detectives drove away three trailers believed to have transported the consignment to this warehouse.

Investigations into the sugar scandal have also netted two traders from Eastleigh area in Nairobi, one from Mombasa and another one from Kitengela, Kajiado as some of the outlets for the sugar deemed unfit for human consumption but that found itself on Kenyan shops. 

20,000, 50kgs bags of sugar were found unfit for human consumption in 2018 and had been marked for conversion into industrial ethanol, in a process supervised by Kenya Bureau of Statistics, (KEBS) and the National Environmental Management Authority (NEMA). 

As a result of the scandal, President William Ruto's administration has suspended 27 government employees, with the Head of State promising stern action against those found culpable irrespective of their status in government. 

Monday’s anticipated court appearance is expected to set in motion the process of accountability in the scandal that has placed the health of thousands of ordinary Kenyans at risk and one that also seems set to unearth high political operatives that are suspected to have been involved in the release of the sugar scandal.