This archive report was first published on 16 December 2019.
On December 16, 2019, the Cabinet Secretary for Industry, Trade and Cooperatives, Hon Peter Munya, appointed a ten-member task force to push reforms in institutions involved in the standards and quality infrastructure ecosystem in Kenya.
The National Task Force on Standards and Quality Infrastructure Reforms will review and evaluate the weaknesses and shortcomings of the entire Standards and Quality Infrastructure, institutional architecture, and arrangement to meet the country's goals of managing and mitigating risks to quality, health, safety, environment, fair trade practices, and consumer protection.
The task force comprises a chairperson, four government representatives with various expertise, two Private Sector Members nominated by the Boards of the Associations, and three Independent Members from Academia/Research, Institutional design and system, and Non-affiliated professionals of good standing.
The members include Wachira Maina as the chairperson, Ms Joan Onyango from the Kenya Law Reform Commission, David William Okoth from the Directorate of Personnel Management, Henry Barmo from the National Police Service, Humphrey Njogu from the Kenya Institute for Public Policy Research and Analysis, Job Wanjohi from the Kenya Association of Manufacturers, Patrick Nyangweso from the Kenya National Chamber of Commerce and Industry of Small and Medium Enterprises, Mrs Evah Oduor, Julius Kimathi Amundi, Dr. Gumato U. Yatani, and Eng. Moses Wafula.
The joint secretaries are Joseph Mutuku Mbeva as head of secretariat, Ms Susan M. Ochieng from the Kenya Accreditation Service, Mrs Esther Njeri Ngari from the Kenya Bureau of Standards, and Raphael Gichora from Weights and Measures.
The task force will review policy, legal, and legislative frameworks, institutional roles, objectives, functions, and operational scopes, opportunities and risks posed by discretionary powers, inter-agency coordination and cooperation, and institutional capacities to execute their functions.
They will also make specific recommendations to the Kenya Bureau of Standards regarding institutional weaknesses, the recruitment, appointment, contracting, and monitoring of third-party conformity assessment services and performance and management of the PVoC programme.
With an office term limit of three months from the date of the publication of the Gazette notice, the Task Force shall be answerable to the Cabinet Secretary, Ministry of Industry, Trade and Cooperatives.
