Business operators at the Port of Mombasa are demanding urgent inquiries into allegations of entrenched corruption and unethical conduct involving a Kenya Bureau of Standards (KEBS) officer whose continued presence at the coastal station has generated unease about the integrity of regulatory oversight at one of East Africa’s busiest maritime gateways.
The officer at the centre of these allegations, Zipporah Njoki Kangara, has served as a quality analyst in the Mombasa branch since 2009, and throughout this period she is alleged to have exploited her regulatory mandate by demanding illicit payments that range between KSh150,000 and KSh2 million from traders before containers can be released for onward distribution.
It is claimed that she frequently justifies these demands by asserting that part of the money is transmitted to the KEBS headquarters in Nairobi, thereby insinuating that her conduct enjoys tacit protection within the institution, an assertion that has deepened suspicions among business operators that the scheme may not be isolated but rather embedded within a wider network of collusion.
Her prolonged stay at the same station, extending beyond two decades without a single transfer, has further intensified speculation, since public service regulations ordinarily anticipate rotation to deter familiarity, limit opportunities for entrenched influence, and uphold professional accountability; yet in her case, those safeguards appear to have been systematically bypassed.
Allegations also suggest that she frequently boasts of protection from senior KEBS executives, particularly the managing director and the human resources department, whose unwillingness to sanction or transfer her is believed to stem from secrets she allegedly holds, suggesting an internal culture of mutual protection that allows misconduct to persist unchallenged.
Beyond procedural irregularities, her personal lifestyle has drawn mounting attention, as observers argue that her visible wealth bears no correlation to the remuneration of a junior public officer within a regulatory agency.
She has been directly linked to luxury vehicles, most notably a Land Cruiser registered as KCJ 007P and a Toyota V8 with registration KBX 110W, both of which are legally documented under the name of her sister, Norah Nyambura Kangara, a woman who is reported to be unemployed and therefore unlikely to possess the financial capacity to legitimately acquire such high-value assets, thereby raising the likelihood of proxy ownership designed to obscure the real source of funds.
Her residence in Utange, Bamburi, is described as a multimillion-shilling mansion whose scale and opulence are equally difficult to reconcile with her official income, strengthening suspicions that the property is financed through proceeds derived from extortion and bribery at the port.
In addition to her personal acquisitions, she is alleged to collaborate with a circle of associates, one of whom is reportedly a Kenya Revenue Authority employee, with the group collectively manipulating port bottlenecks in order to create artificial clearance delays that force business operators to part with large sums of money in exchange for expedited release of goods.
Her academic qualifications have also been called into question, with complainants urging investigative bodies to independently verify whether her credentials meet the standards required for her role, particularly given the scale of authority she wields in the clearance of imported goods that directly impact both national standards and consumer safety.
The mounting complaints have been formally directed to the Ethics and Anti-Corruption Commission, with letters explicitly detailing allegations of bribery, accumulation of unexplained wealth, claims of institutional protection, and the urgent necessity of conducting a lifestyle audit to determine the sources of her income and the legitimacy of her assets.
At the same time, KEBS has been challenged to explain why a junior officer has been allowed to remain in one station for over twenty years, even as numerous grievances about her conduct have been documented by traders, clearing agents, and other stakeholders whose livelihoods are directly affected by prolonged clearance delays at the port.
Business operators contend that the lack of accountability and the apparent tolerance of such practices erodes trust in state institutions, increases the cost of doing business, and undermines Kenya’s reputation as a reliable trade hub, particularly since the Port of Mombasa is the primary entry point for goods not only destined for Kenya but also for landlocked neighbours such as Uganda, Rwanda, Burundi, South Sudan, and parts of the Democratic Republic of Congo.
The controversy surrounding her tenure has reignited debate about the quality of governance within KEBS, an institution whose statutory mandate is to safeguard public health and safety by certifying the quality of imported and locally produced goods, but which in this instance is being portrayed as compromised by internal patronage networks that prioritise personal gain over public service.
In the view of many stakeholders, the situation illustrates how unchecked authority at critical trade gateways can distort fair competition, discourage investment, and ultimately compromise the integrity of supply chains, since traders who refuse to pay bribes may find their goods indefinitely withheld, incurring demurrage charges and market losses, while those who comply gain unfair advantage at the expense of transparency and accountability.
Calls have therefore intensified for a transparent, independent, and comprehensive investigation not only into Zipporah Njoki Kangara’s conduct but also into the institutional frameworks that have permitted her to remain untransferred and unchallenged for such an extended period, with demands that both KEBS and law enforcement agencies demonstrate their capacity to restore credibility in the regulatory processes that underpin Kenya’s international trade.
For business operators who depend on efficient port operations to sustain livelihoods and maintain competitiveness, the matter is no longer confined to one officer’s conduct but reflects deeper anxieties about the integrity of Kenya’s trade regulation environment, making it imperative for the authorities to take decisive steps to protect the country’s reputation as a gateway to the regional economy.
Below is what business operators, whistleblowers, and regulatory stakeholders have documented in their complaints, outlining the scale of the allegations and the urgent calls for accountability.
“Hi Cyprian. It has been reported that Zipporah Njoki Kangara, who is the Kenya KEBS officer attached to Mombasa, as a quality analyst, has been demanding bribes from business people who have containers at Mombasa. Zipporah demands from 150k – 2 million in order for your containers to be released, she says part of the proceeds is sent to the head office in Nairobi. Zipporah Njoki Kangara has been working at Mombasa office since she was employed, which is from 2009 to date.n Zipporah, whose academic credentials are in question, owns Land Cruiser registration number KCJ 007P and V8 KBX 110W Land Cruiser but registered under the blood sister Norah Nyambura Kangara, who has no job and has never been employed. She claims that the managing director KEBS and the HR will never touch her as they have their secrets. “Which are these secrets? And why did one stay in one station for more than 20 years without transfer? One of the complainants asked.” Zipporah Njoki Kangara lives a boss lifestyle, she stays at Utange Bamburi area in a multimillion house. The general public is calling upon the investigating authority to investigate the source of the money and why she has never been transferred despite the complaints. Zipporah, as a group of ladies, they collaborate with one of them who works with KRA. “I will never be moved from Mombasa, you will go and find me here. MD will never listen to you to transfer me, the money you give she gets the share,” Zipporah responded to one of the business people. How can a junior officer own three luxury cars from salary?”
