Nairobi — The department of Weights and Measures is unable to monitor cheating by traders due to understaffing, top officials have said.

The Director, Mr James Kiarie, said his department has only 54 inspectors, eight of them based in Nairobi.

"Weights and measures services are currently being offered through 20 zone offices and we have recruited 13 more inspectors who are undergoing training," he said at a press briefing in Nairobi, on Tuesday.

The department, which lies in the Ministry of Trade and Industry, is charged with monitoring and inspecting all weighing and measuring equipment.

It also lacks equipment and transport that would enable officers verify weighing and measuring equipment from more than 100,000 trade outlets countrywide.

A recent research by Research International revealed that there are more than 800,000 retail outlets in the country that use weighing equipment.

Kiarie said some traders were tampering with the equipment, especially in rural areas.

He singled out butchers as being the biggest culprits and asked consumers to insist on checking the machines for the department's seal.

Kiarie assured consumers that his officers would intensify the crackdown and prosecute those out to exploit the consumers by giving them half measure.

He also asked traders to comply with the weights and measures Act and the Trade Description Act to create and maintain confidence in their customers.

"This does not only save the trader large losses but, by protecting the consumer from cheating, it enhances his purchasing power thereby enabling him to purchase more," said Kiarie.

The two pieces of legislation are meant to ensure that during the sale of any commodity, the quantity delivered to the buyer is not less than the quantity agreed and paid for.

Two months ago, the department raided cooking gas dealers in Eastleigh where several underweight cylinders were discovered, confiscated and traders arrested.