Dujis MP Adan Duale/ File
Duale said on Friday that the Parliamentary Health Committee should also institute an investigation into the matter.
“These are issues that the two principals must address; these are issues that the Minister for Public Health must come out very clearly about,” he stated.
“We will not allow 60,000 children of this country to suffer from cancer as a result of food which was given to them when they were starving,” he said.
Aflatoxin is a lethal mycotoxin caused by fungus which medics say could cause cancer if consumed over a long period of time and in large quantities.
Duale questioned why the quality check was done while the Unimix had already been distributed to schools in drought stricken areas of North Eastern, Eastern and Coast region.
“It is Kenya Bureau of Standards (KEBS) that is mandated to make sure they take care of the safety of the Kenyan people – what they eat, what they use. If KEBS takes over one month to detect this how sure are we that these millers pass through them?” he posed.
On Thursday, the Kenya Red Cross confirmed that at least 60,000 school going children were at risk after consuming the afflatoxin contaminated Unimix supplied by Proctor and Allan and Sai Millers under the Kenyans4Kenya initiative.
According to an audit report by Deloitte & Touché a total of Sh84.69 million was paid to Proctor and Allan to supply 798 metric tonnes of unimix while Sh27.18million was paid out to the second supplier Sai Millers to provide 302 metric tonnes of the same product.
Kenya Red Cross Secretary General Abbas Gullet said they had already recalled 362 metric tonnes of the Unimix, a high protein food that comprises maize and soya which is fortified with vitamins and minerals, supplied for famine relief.
He said the food had been supplied in schools about three weeks before it was recalled.
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