Three in five samples of cement products the Kenya Bureau of Standards (Kebs) collected in a market surveillance operation failed the standards test, a leaked report shows.
The report indicates that only 38.1 percent of the cement tested in February 2022 met the required standards, including the capacity to withstand the slightest pressure without crumbling.
Subsequent tests by Kebs found that the quality of cement improved, with 63.4 percent meeting the compressive strength last December, which the standards body attributed to “successful surveillance, corrective actions, and enhanced quality control by manufacturers.”
But revelations on the existence of substandard cement in the market lifts the lid on a disaster in waiting amid an aggressive push for universal home ownership by the administration of President William Ruto.
Poor building standards are a fact of life in Kenya, with previous surveys indicating a significant share of buildings in the capital, Nairobi, were unfit for habitation.
The high demand for housing in Nairobi has led to some property developers bypassing building regulations to reduce costs and increase profits.
In a presentation to the cement sub-sector of Kenya Association of Manufacturers (KAM), Kebs Managing Director Esther Ngari blamed the proliferation of low-quality cement in the market on “shortcuts by manufacturers” and “counterfeiting.”
In February 2022, 21 samples from eight undisclosed brands indicated that 38.1 percent were compliant.
Another market surveillance of a wider sample of 41 from eight brands showed an improved compliance of 63.4 percent.
Kebs tests the cement on a variety of standards, including strength, ingredients, markings and reactions to air and chemicals like lime in what is technically known as pozzolanicity.
Ms Ngari listed four possible causes of substandard cement, one of which was the “use of poor-quality raw materials” such as clinker.
Clinker, the main raw material used to manufacture cement, is also the costliest input, which explains why some unscrupulous players use less of it resulting in substandard cement.
Inadequate process controls, characterised by “shortcuts by manufacturers (profit-driven motives and cost-cutting measures)” were also to blame for the poor cement quality, said Ms Ngari in the presentation dated July 19, 2024.
Ms Ngari also cited “illegal cement activity” including “adulteration or counterfeiting” as the other causes of poor cement quality.
She also listed gaps in supply chain transparency and control of packaging materials.
Kebs reckoned in an emailed response following the test results that there is no cause for alarm.
“The 38.1 percent does not imply 62 percent of all cement products in the market are non-compliant. It reflects a proportion of samples,” said Kebs in the email response.
“It is important to note that compliance in critical parameters such as strength, setting times and chemical composition was at 90 percent. Failures in non-critical parameters do not warrant immediate product recalls but prompt corrective measures.”
The Kebs report, however, shines a spotlight on the increased incidents of collapsing buildings that have led to loss of lives. Several stakeholder reports have blamed the collapses on poor workmanship and the use of substandard materials.
Between 2009 and 2019, a total of 86 buildings valued at over Sh2.4 billion collapsed, according to a 2019 report by the National Construction Authority (NCA).
The report blamed the collapse on substandard building materials–mainly cement and steel–and poor workmanship.
“Most non-compliance issues in the sector include using inappropriate construction material, poor workmanship attributed to inadequate skills, and unprofessional and ethical conduct of contractors,” said the NCA report.
The NCA report showed that poor workmanship contributed to the highest percentage of collapsed buildings at 35 percent while unprofessional and unethical conduct of contractors stood at 34 percent.
Use of substandard construction materials contributed to 28 percent of collapsed buildings.
Other Kebs tests were done in June 2022, January 2023 and December 2023.
The compliance level was 75 percent in June 2022, improving further to 94.8 percent in January last year before dropping to 63.4 percent in December last year.
Cement is the main material for constructing homes, offices, supermarkets, bridges, railways, and ports.
With President Ruto’s plan to build at least 200,000 affordable housing units annually for the next five years, cement consumption, which declined last year, is expected to surge.
The government estimates that an additional 1,400,000 tonnes of cement will be required, putting pressure on companies to increase their capacity.
Kebs says it has certified 14 companies under the standardisation mark schemes (though industry players dispute this number), which means their products have to meet certain criteria, including composition, specification and conformity.
A total of 73 products have been certified under the standardisation mark scheme and the Diamond mark scheme.
Kebs tests cement products on chemical composition, which defines acceptable ranges for key chemical compounds in clinker to ensure that the final cement product is strong and durable, and on physical properties which specifies requirements for properties such as fineness, soundness and particle size.
Kebs says it conducts testing at various stages of the cement to ensure compliance and quality, starting at the beginning of the certification process, where samples are tested against the relevant standards.
There is also scheduled surveillance testing, which is done at least once a year to monitor ongoing compliance of certified products, said Kebs. Targeted surveillance testing focuses on specific products or issues identified through market intelligence or consumer feedback.
“As part of our market surveillance activities, Kebs conducts both scheduled and random spot checks. Samples are collected from various retail outlets, construction sites, and manufacturing facilities to ensure a representative cross-section of the market,” said Ngari in response to our queries.
The testing of cement strength—technically known as compressive strength—is done in highly controlled physical laboratories where temperatures are maintained at 20 degrees.
The cement is first weighed before mixing it with de-ionized water and special standard sand. This mixture is then put in a mortar mixer and stirred to form a paste which will be cast into concrete prisms.
These standardised prisms are eventually tested for compressive strength in accordance with the requirement of the cement standard.
A cement industry expert, who spoke on condition of anonymity fearing reprisal, said some of the concrete prisms crumbled even before compressing, which means they have very low strength.
The source added that the games are played on the common-grade types of cement (with notations of 32.5 R), indicative of high early-day strength when they do not meet the threshold. The common-grade cements are mostly used to construct residential houses and apartments, putting households at higher risk.
Mega projects such as the standard gauge railway (SGR) or the Nairobi Expressway were built using high-grade cement classes, such as 42.5N, which can withstand higher pressures and loads.
“They can’t play games on the higher grades, because those have to be tested,” added the source.
As part of the remedial measures to safeguard consumers, Kebs said it conducts ongoing surveillance both at the factory level and in the market to ensure compliance with standards, with the standards body enforcing product recall procedures.
“Products that failed to meet standards were subjected to targeted withdrawals and recalls. Manufacturers are notified to remove non-compliant batches from the market,” said Kebs.
Kebs noted that the compliance percentage does not directly translate to the entire market but rather to the samples tested during that exercise.
“The market is dynamic, and subsequent testing, as seen in the improved compliance percentages in later periods, indicates that corrective measures and continuous monitoring have been effective,” she added.
