Kenyan government moots for products standardization

KENYA –  The government of Kenya has underscored the need for standardization while urging manufacturers to always ensure their products have standardization quality marks.

The Principal Secretary for Industrialization, Kirimi Kaberia, who officiated a ceremony to mark the World Standards Day (WSD) in Nairobi, said standards are key in enhancing sustainable development.

“Standards enable all the dimension of sustainable development; the environment, the economy, and society and play a key role in supporting a distributed government model,” he expressed.

A standardization mark is given to a product or products that meet specific set standards on quality, manufacturing method, packaging, performance among others. Kaberia said standards were necessary in ensuring that imports and exports are market-friendly and would improve the economic condition of businesses in the country.

The World standard day celebration is marked annually to commemorate collaborative effects of thousands of experts worldwide that develop the voluntary technical agreements that are published as international standards.

The Kenya Bureau of Standards (KEBS) Council Chairman, Bernard Mgore, called for the establishment of international standards to enhance the quality of products. He assured that through the establishment of international standards the export and import business will be enhanced.

“The government’s, Vision 2030 spells out the role of standards in facilitating better trade and market access of Kenyan products from the small, medium and large enterprises across the region. The use of these standards will contribute to better business and industrial practices that will be the impetus for improved quality of agricultural and manufactured products,” he said.

World Standards Day in Uganda

Meanwhile, as Uganda joined the rest of the world to celebrate World Standards Day, the Executive Director of Uganda National Bureau of Standards (UNBS) David Livingstone Ebiru outlined some of the initiatives and policies they have put in place to boost the quality of the Ugandan market.

According to Ebiru, UNBS has developed 4265 standards in the areas of Food and Agriculture, Engineering, Chemicals and Consumer products and Management and Services at both National, Regional and International levels.

During the 2020-2021 financial year, UNBS developed 457 new standards to support key sectors of the economy and act as a catalyst for economic growth.

The standards agency has also rolled out interventions to support the private sector, especially the Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs) post-COVID-19 recovery.