By Adongo Ogony May29, 2024
Saving The Mountain Votes : President William Ruto Declares Ban on Muguka As Null And Void
President William Ruto has faulted a move by Kilifi and Mombasa County governments to ban Miraa.
In a stakeholders meeting with Miraa farmers from Embu County, the head of state promised to commit Ksh 500m for value addition.
“I have held a productive meeting with the leaders of Embu County on the recent ban on muguka. We have agreed that miraa/muguka being a scheduled crop, a meeting be convened to discuss the issue.
Consequently, I have directed the Ministry of Agriculture to convene a forum of all parties and stakeholders concerned.” Said President Ruto
In the stakeholders meeting the head of state maintained Muguka is a scheduled crop in accordance with the Crops Act Cap 2013 and The Miraaa Regulations 2023 which were passed by the National Assembly and the council of governors in concurrence with the council of governors.
Mombasa County was first to announce the ban and sale of Muguka via an executive order dated May 22 , through which the governor issued orders barring vehicles carrying Miraa to enter into the Coastal City.
Kilifi governor Gedion Mung’aro also banned Miraa terming it as a threat to the younger generation.
Govt: County-Level Bans On Muguka, Miraa Are Null And Void
There has been a high volume campaign led by DP Gachagua, his wife Dorcas and many politicians particularly in Mt. Kenya region to eliminate illicit alcohol and help young people get help and quit drinking and drugs. The whole thing has been termed the Boy-Child war against alcoholism and drugs. That was not bad and it had very good intentions even though personally I have always wondered what to do with the man-child because a lot of our forever talking politicians are grown ups in body only and they behave like little children with grey beards. So I have always wondered who was going to save these men-children who are the Kenyan political leaders today.
So according to President William Ruto and his always wobbly CS for Agriculture Mr. Mithika Linturi County-level bans on Muguka, a variety of Miraa, are null and void, explaining that Mũgũka is a scheduled crop under the Crops Act 2013 and the Miraa Regulations 2023.
The latest development comes after President Ruto and the Embu leadership held a special meeting on Monday to discuss the ban on Muguka in select counties.
Governor Cecily Mbarire was among those who attended the Monday meeting at State House Nairobi, along with the deputy governor, the senator, the Woman representative, and all County Assembly Members.
The consumption of the freshly plucked buds and soft leaves has been blamed for a rise in mental health issues and increased social ills, including crime.
Three county governors from the coastal region banned its sale and use last week, sparking anger in the areas where the crop is grown.
President Ruto on Monday said the muguka crop was legal and its sale should not be prevented.
Muguka, a cheaper, more potent and addictive variety of the plant, is popular in the coastal counties of Mombasa, Kilifi, Taita Taveta and Kwale.
A similar directive was issued by the governors of Kilifi and Taita Taveta counties who vowed to crack down on its sale and use.
It sparked protests in the muguka-growing county of Embu, with farmers and traders decrying the risk of closing businesses due to the ban on the lucrative crop.
President Ruto said the government would allocate $3.7m (£3m) Sh. 500 million in this financial year to expand khat farming in the country.
Muguka and miraa packaged for selling.
Although the National Agency for the Campaign Against Drug Abuse has not banned muguka, it has classified it as a harmful substance based on the stimulants cathinone and cathine found in the plant.
“The amounts of cathinone and cathine are very high in muguka because you are chewing the leaves, where the potency resides,” John Mututho, the former chief of the anti-drug abuse agency, told a local TV station.
The one big issue raised by all the governors who banned Muguka from their counties is that this particular stimulant is very popular with young people including teenagers in schools and apparently that is why the sellers love to peddle the stuff near schools and learning centers particularly in the coastal regions of Kenya where suppliers and sellers of the drug flock everyday.
So here now we have a dangerous substance harming our kids and the county governors who are responsible for the kids in their schools decide to do something about it and the politicians starting from the God preaching President William Ruto himself (Bwana Asifiwe) who is always in church praying is telling Kenyans since the people who produce and sell these drugs are his voters the kids affected are none of his business. Ruto’s God must be turning with rage in his heaven about this injustice to kids and young people.
And Ruto himself promised that he is investing Sh. 500 million in the Muguka business for “value addition”. How the heck do you add value to Muguka? Make it stronger for the consumers so they can consume more and maybe fall down dead after that. Or better still apparently the producers of Muguka have figured out how to turn it into juice.
Some young Kenyans have already figured how to make juice out of Muguka. So with “value addition”, producers can make Muguka juice so people including those kids can just drink it and not take the whole day chewing the stuff. Maybe the Ruto government want to set up a Muguka processing plant to make juice out of that drug. Sometimes Kenyan leaders talk about value addition without any idea what they are talking about.
Waiguru orders closure of liquor outlets in Kirinyaga after illicit brew tragedy
Anne Waiguru and Rigathi Gachagua arriving at the mass burial of the illicit brew victims.
It says a lot that the big warriors against alcohol and drugs in Kenya DP Rigathi Gachagua and Anne Waiguru, Kirinyaga governor, have not uttered a word about this decision by the government to keep feeding Kenyan kids and young people with the muguka drug. It tells you that these leaders like DP Gachagua really don’t care about those young people and it just a political platform for them to run around the whole country and look busy but when the sale of those drugs affects the income of their voters then that is a no go zone.
The other really strange thing is that war against alcohol which included closing down of restaurants and bars started in Kirinyaga, Kiambu, Embu and the Meru region. Now the people growing this drug muguka are exactly from the same regions. If they love their muguka so much and they want to make money from it why not grow it where they are and eat it there by themselves instead of feeding other peoples’ children with the drugs. Let the farmers eat their crop and keep it to themselves and the governors can join the feast. How grand that would be.
First Lady Rachel Ruto Endorses Pastor Dorcas Rigathi’s Boy Child Program
First Lady Rachel Ruto with Second Lady Dorcas Rigathi at the First Born Christian Centre.
First Lady Rachel Ruto has endorsed the boy child program under the Office of the Spouse of the Deputy President (OSDP) in efforts to rescue the boys and men in Kenya from drug and substance abuse, and other vices.
The First Lady spoke in Gachie, Kiambu County, on Saturday at the First Born Christian Centre during the 60 years celebrations of church ministry by Archbishop Gerry Kibarabara, where Pastor Dorcas Rigathi was also present.
“I want to appreciate my sister for the work she is doing with the boy child. It is true that this generation we are having right now, our children, are going through a lot,” said the First Lady.
So all the big fighters saving the boy-child have all gone missing because it is money and politics (votes) that is doing the talking and now they say the boy-child needs Muguka urgently all the time. Really?
CS Linturi has clarified the legal status of Muguka, stating that any purported prohibitions in Mombasa, Taita Taveta, and Kilifi counties that contradict the shrub’s legal recognition are null and void.
CS Linturi explained that the Crops Act 2013 and Miraa Regulations 2023 were approved by the Council of Governors after being passed by the National Assembly and Senate, respectively.
The regulations mandate that the government fund various aspects of Mũgũka farming, including licensing, promotion, regulation, transportation, aggregation, selling, marketing, and export.
The Miraa/Mũgũka Pricing Committee has three members nominated by the Council of Governors, as per the regulations.
Following the meeting, the Ministry of Agriculture and Livestock was directed to convene a consultative forum to address stakeholders’ concerns.
This forum aims to address concerns and help implement the Miraa/Mũgũka Regulations 2023.
Additionally, the Miraa/Mũgũka Standard Code of Practice will be implemented to regulate all activities related to the crop.
According to CS Linturi, the government is committed to improving the Mũgũka industry through increased farming, aggregation, grading, pricing, packaging, and value addition.
To support these efforts, the government has pledged KSh500 million in the fiscal year 2024/25 for value addition.
Last week the three counties, Mombasa, Kilifi and Taita Taveta banned the entry, transportation, sale, and use of Muguka and its products.
Mombasa Governor bans Muguka in the County
Speaking at the Port Reitz hospital after signing the executive order, Governor Nassir said Muguka is the leading cause of addiction in the region.
Governor Nassir on Thursday ordered the ban highlighting the pervasive consumption of the stimulant drug at the Coast, including among school-going children.
According to Nassir, muguka traders have ignored laws put in place to safeguard children from the drug’s influence, with some even going as far as selling the drug to minors.
“We have tried to come up with regulations so that users and the larger community can co-exist but they have refused and for this reason, I have consulted legally and found my decree to be in order,” said Nassir.
“I have signed an executive order to ban the entry of muguka into Mombasa and to ban the sale and consumption of muguka into Mombasa.”
Elsewhere, kilifi had effected a similar ban, with Governor Gideon Mung’aro banning the entry, transportation, distribution, sale of Muguka within the county.
“In exercise of the powers conferred in Section 30(2)(1) of the County Government Act and all other enabling laws of Kenya, I, Gideon Maitha Mung’aro, Governor of Kilifi County, hereby order and direct as that there be a total prohibition on the entry, transportation, distribution, sale, and use of muguka and its products within Kilifi County,” Mung’aro said in a statement.
The orders by the two governors came in the wake of a spirited push by women leaders who have been calling for the ban of muguka, and regularisation of miraa over the drugs’ detrimental effects on young people’s health.
The Real Deal 
