Senior management from Kel Chemicals, currently under investigation for counterfeit fertilizer by Parliament, has pointed fingers at high-ranking government officials.
During a session with the National Assembly’s Agriculture Committee, Devesh Patel, the Chief Operating Officer (COO) of Kel Chemicals, implicated senior government figures from the Office of the President, Kenya Bureau of Standards (KEBS), and the National Cereals and Produce Board (NCPB) in the controversy.
Patel recounted a tense meeting he attended with these officials, shortly before his unexpected arrest. He claimed that the meeting was cut short, leading to his subsequent arrest and detention by the police.
“In the meeting, Ms. Esther Ngari repeatedly accused us of producing substandard fertilizer. She threatened to shut down our factories and instructed Mr. Felix Koskei to take punitive action against us,” Patel stated.
“Following this, Koskei abruptly ended the meeting and ordered the police to arrest me and Collins Ng’etich, taking us to the DCI headquarters in Kiambu. I was arrested without being informed of the charges, denied legal representation, and coerced into giving a statement under duress. I was later released on a 100,000 police bond.”
Patel also claimed that while in police custody, he was compelled to draft a confession letter admitting to the production and distribution of counterfeit fertilizer.
“I was pressured into writing a letter confessing to the recall of the counterfeit fertilizer batches,” he added.
These accusations surfaced shortly after Kel Chemicals’ factory underwent inspection and subsequent closure by Agriculture CS Mithika Linturi, alleging involvement in the counterfeit fertilizer scandal.
