The East African Legislative Assembly (EALA) representative for Kenya Winnie Odinga is now rallying the East African Community to unite against the introduction of GMO foods in the region.
In an interview on spice FM this morning, Winnie called upon the community to conduct its own study on GMOs saying, they are not healthy for human consumption.
She also suggests formulating a policy that will be used as a guiding principle in introducing genetically modified foods.
"GMO is not something that is good for us right now and even if it is being used as an intervention, what are we doing to further not need this intervention? It is time we start to discuss what each country can do. This revolves around vertical farming, we cannot keep talking about irrigation, we can look at intelligence - robotics in farming," Winnie suggested during an interview on Spice FM Monday, November 12.
According to Winnie, the East African Community (EAC) will have a voice if the member states come up with a policy from a well-researched study that will guide the way forward on how to deal with GMO foods.
The GMO debate has elicited various reactions in the country with politicians giving divergent views on the same.
Last week, business magnate Bill Gates while on tour in Kenya, stated that he supports the adaption of GMOs, following a heated debate after the government announced plans to import GMO maize to curb the ongoing food crisis and looming starvation.
"GMO is more productive and is disease resistant and "99.9 per cent of crops in the West are GMO. Every piece of bread I have ever eaten is from GMO-modified wheat. Every piece of corn I have also eaten is GMO corn, products that are proven," Gates who was engaging the media at the University of Nairobi said.
Trade Cabinet Secretary Moses Kuria on Thursday announced the government had finally decided to allow the duty-free importation of 10 million bags of GMO maize over the next 6 months.
Earlier on, President William Ruto had explained that the government had considered expert opinion from scientists over the suitability and safety of GMOs before lifting the ban as part of the medium and long-term response to food insecurity.
