Investigations have revealed that rogue employees of popular cement companies have been collaborating with businesspeople to sell fake cement to unsuspecting customers.
The Directorate of Criminal Investigations (DCI) discovered this after conducting a crackdown on substandard cement.
The DCI discovered that drivers of cement companies collaborate with rogue businesspersons strategically placed along the transport routes, where they illegally repackage the cement.
The businessmen, most of whom own hardware, then hawk the substandard cement to unsuspecting customers and share the benefits amongst themselves.
Cement companies that have been affected
The Kenya Bureau of Statistics (KEBS) collected 1,774 bags of counterfeit cement and verified their standard.
The cement was found to contain non-cementing material such as pozzolanic dust which greatly reduces the quality of cement. The cement was also found to be way less than the 50 kilograms indicated in the packaging bags.
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The DCI also revealed that the packaging bags, which were branded with renowned cement company names; Bamburi Cement, Simba Cement, Blue Triangle Cement, and Mombasa Cement did not belong to these companies.
These packaging bags did not contain batch numbers. One of the bags that read Mombasa cement did not have the brand colors for the said cement company and weighed 38 kilograms.
DCI officers have arrested 13 suspects so far and have detained 8 lorries that were loaded with counterfeit bags of cement, most of which contained more than 100 bags of cement.
Effects of Fake Cement
They have also confiscated materials used to siphon the cement. The materials will be used as exhibits.
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The DCI has warned members of the public to be on the lookout for these counterfeit goods that have already made their way into the market.
“With these establishments, we wish to caution members of the public especially those undertaking construction works that some of their preferred brands may have been counterfeited or interfered with, and hence should ensure due diligence when making purchases to get value for their money,” advised the DCI.
It also stated that the results of the felonious activities bring huge losses to the genuine manufacturers, and lead to poor quality construction works that could lead to numerous lives lost when buildings collapse.
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