Officials stop offloading of alleged GMO maize

Written By:KBC reporters,    Posted: Sun, Aug 07, 2011

A ship from Malawi has been stopped from offloading 8178 tonnes of maize suspected to be genetically modified. This is after members of two Parliamentary committees raised suspicion over the consignment. The Agriculture and Education committees led by Naivasha MP John Mututho and David Koech of Mosop respectively raised alarm with the Kenya Bureau of Standards (KEBs) and KEPHIS officials after they discovered that the maize was not labeled as required by law. The ship MV Baltic Voyager docked at Mombasa port berth number eight on Friday night had by Saturday 1pm offloaded over  a million 50kg bags of maize before the exercise was stopped. Mututho claimed that smuggling of maize is rife at the port as many bags are being repackaged into World Food Programme and transported to Uganda for sale. He questioned why the maize came without any labeling adding that GMO maize could easily get into the country if the issue is not addressed. KEBs importation laws require import goods to be labeled clearly to indicate which sort of commodity it is, the content, amount, storage requirements and where it is meant for human or animal consumption. Mututho faulted the move by cabinet to permit  GMO maize into the country adding that there was maize in other parts of the country that could feed hungry Kenyans. Koech said the two committees of parliament were mandated by the house last week to undertake investigations into whether there has been importation of GMO maize into the country this year  and table their findings within two weeks. "Parliament and the entire country has been treated to a drama of lies for a long time, we want to unearth the truth", said the Mosop MP. The committee took samples of the maize for testing to confirm whether the grains had any traces of GMO and levels of  the content.  "We will take these samples for testing to an independent and very competent laboratory in the United States. We will also establish whether those behind this importation are part of politicians and business crooks who have been lying to Kenyans", said Mututho. According to Mututho, they would be traveling to Malawi and Zambia next week to establish whether the country is indeed the source of the maize and also find out if the maize there is GMO free.