MERU, KENYA: The declaration by the British Home Secretary, Theresa May, that the UK government will ban khat, popularly known as miraa, has triggered an uproar, especially among those directly involved with the multi-billion shillings business.Farmers representatives and politicians have vowed to petition the UK in the same way the Mau Mau veterans did a few months ago and won.
This is besides going to court in Kenya to force the National Authority for the Campaign Against Alcohol and Drug Abuse (NACADA) to stop calling the coveted shrub a drug.
“The implementation of this ban will be an economic death sentence to not only the hundreds of thousands of miraa growers in Meru County but to many more who depend on the industry like sellers, transporters and exporters,” says the National Treasurer and spokesman for Nyambene Miraa Traders Association (NYAMITA), Kimathi M’munjuri.
“It will also crush institutions like schools and churches in Meru that depend on their miraa plantations for economic survival.”
More than 60 tonnes of miraa is exported to the United Kingdom weekly, sustaining millions of livelihoods. If implemented the ban will cost Kenya around Sh2 billion per year.
The Advisory Council on Misuse of Drugs (ACMD) conducted a study that established that there was “insufficient evidence” that miraa caused health problems, but the Home Secretary insisted the findings might have overlooked some issues.
If London implements the ban khat, whose scientific name is catha edulis, will be classified as a Class C drug alongside substances like cannabis and ketamine.
Sources who talked to the Standard on condition of anonymity, said the ban could be implemented as early as next Monday.
After Netherlands banned the shrub on grounds that its usage was leading to littering, noise and posing a public nuisance, London became the major hub for miraa exports to Europe.
Other Western countries like the United States and Canada have also banned the substance on health grounds.
The case for Kenya’s miraa farmers is being complicated by a robust campaign by UK anti-khat activists led by Abukar Awale, a Briton of Somali descen
★ ★ ★“The best thing about arriving At a destination is the realization the road does Not end there” �� Robert Louis Stevenson
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