Kirubi, who is also the Chairman of Nairobi Bottlers Limited, said that Kenyans are being conned by purchasing cheap look-a-likes of various products/FILE
NAIROBI, Kenya, Aug 9 – Industrialist Chris Kirubi is urging all Kenyans to be on the frontline against the distribution and consumption of counterfeit products in the country.
He acknowledged that his company Haco Industries, a leading manufacturing and trading company in the fast moving consumer goods sector in Kenya, has been the victim of counterfeits in the past and urged for intervention from the police and the government.
“We need to ask the police to support genuine industries and I ask government and the Kenya Bureau of Standards to protect factories and to use intelligence services to find those who are trying to copy-cat other genuine products in this market,” he said.
“People must be very careful with where they buy their products,” he cautioned.
Kirubi, who is also the Chairman of Nairobi Bottlers Limited, said that Kenyans are being conned by purchasing cheap look-a-likes of various products and challenged the media to get their facts right before reporting stories because unfounded rumours may lead to the destruction of the economy.
“I appeal to the people doing the social media and the mainstream media to be more responsible and to report things after verifying and after checking with those companies. They need to realise the damage that they can do to those companies,” he stated.
“We cannot allow a few people to become alarmists. Social media must not be used to destroy the economy of this nation by irresponsible reporting by the media who are reporting fake stories and destroying quality brands,” he emphasised.
He added that his companies are part of an industry that is reputable and uses international standards and invited the media and public to visit the Nairobi Bottlers plant to see so that the rumours circulating in the media are false.
“I would like anybody to visit a factory like the Nairobi Bottlers plant. The quality standards are the key major drivers of products coming from that factory,” he said.
“There’s no good company that will allow contaminated or unclean products to go out there in the market. These factories and these businesses mean a lot to many investors and I feel sorry for those who work in these factories. We cannot grow an economy if we’re not responsible,” he added.
