There is something fishy about tilapias entering the Kenya market from China as it emerged they are also being imported illegally. Legislators from Lake region have now expressed fears over the quality and safety of fish imports with rising suspicions that some of it could be laced with harmful chemicals.
Addressing the press at Parliament Buildings yesterday, Kisumu Town West MP Olago Oluoch said the government has not approved entry of unprocessed fish in the country from China.
“The Ministry of Fisheries has confirmed to me they are not aware of any agreement allowing the Chinese to bring fish in this country, meaning our people are consuming products that have not been certified by any authority,” he said. “I can also confirm that no check was done to the Chinese fish in all entry border point, the fish therefore pose a health risk to our people,” he added.
This comes even as a previous Bloomberg report indicated Chinese farmers often grow fish in filthy conditions, resulting in the need to use large amounts of veterinary drugs to ensure their survival. It highlighted how these chemicals could leave toxic residues on the seafood people consume.
Chinese food companies have been blamed for making deadly alterations to dairy, baby and pet foods by adding melamine. Seme MP James Nyikal, a medical doctor, warned that for hugely industrialised country such as China lead contamination of sea food was likely.
He said typhoid and cholera were also capable of being transmitted through the imported fish. Rarieda MP Nicholas Gumbo alleged a deliberate neglect of the fishing industry in Kenya by successive governments since independence.
He said it was appalling for a country with a coastline exceeding 2,000 nautical miles and access to Lake Victoria, world’s second largest fresh water lake can actively import unprocessed fish.
“We believe this is nothing more than a sustained attempt to marginalise communities living along these massive water bodies, by denying the opportunities available in the blue economy and maximisation of the exploitation of aquatic resources,” he said.
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