Expired gov’t sanitary pads recovered in Juja being repackaged for sale

Police in Juja, Kiambu County on Thursday recovered expired sanitary pads labeled Government of Kenya (GOK) at a residential house under construction in Witeithie Estate following a tip off from members of the public.

The pads from the Ministry of Education are valued at Ksh.300,000 and are believed to have been looted from different counties among them Mombasa, Kilifi, Murang’a and Kiambu since 2018 with an aim of repackaging them for sale.

Police have already launched a manhunt for Mr. Stephen Muchoki, the owner of the premises, who is still at large.

According to Juja Sub-county Police Commander Dorothy Migarusha, Mr. Muchoki, who is a renowned businessman, has been transacting this illegal business for the last two years.

“Some residents have told us that these sanitary towels were brought here back in 2018 and that Mr Muchoki leaves this unfinished house with loaded sacks to unknown destination. We are looking for him to explain how government property landed in his house and why,” Migarusha reported.

Witeithie residents raised concern over the increased cases of female urinary infections in this area, attributing this to the expired sanitary towels.

“It’s a shame that someone is making money out of free goods that are distributed by the government! It is quite sad that they are even expired towels no wonder we have so many cases of Urinary Tract Infections around,” Zena Rotich told Citizen Digital.

Since the year 2011, the government has been setting aside funds to buy and distribute sanitary towels to school going girls from poor backgrounds and in the 2017-2018 financial year, the budget for the legal provision of the pads was increased to make sure no girl misses school because of her monthly periods.