Teams calls for law to regulate miraa trade

Miraa packed by traders for sale. [PHOTO: FILE/STANDARD]

By JUMA KWAYERA

Kenya: A parliamentary committee now wants miraa to be protected as a crop by law to remove it from the category of plants the national anti-drug agency has listed as a drug.

The select committee on miraa admits in its findings that its investigations were limited by gaps in scientific data, which is supposed to form the basis of legislation and by extension regulatory mechanisms.

“The committee fears that recent threats to ban khat in the United Kingdom are likely to be worsened by lack of a regulatory framework governing khat trade in the country and beyond Kenya’s borders,” says Meru County Women Representative Florence Kajuju who is the team’s chairperson.

The committee says limited research has been conducted on miraa, which has relegated it to “an orphaned crop” despite its commercial potential.

Kajuju says the committee was waiting for the verdict of the House when the report comes up for debate before pushing for laws to govern trade and consumption of the crop.

“The report has been tabled in the Parliament. If adopted, it will inform the basis of a Bill to govern trade and consumption of the plant. At present, we are at the initial stages cushioning farmers from unnecessary hurdles. There is little else to say about legislation,” says Ms Kajuju, who has been at the forefront of cushioning the industry estimated to be worth Sh2.9 billion per annum.

The committee proposes amendment to the Crops Act 2013 to include miraa in the list of scheduled crops in addition to government locating funds to research institutions to enable them carry out extensive research on the crop.

Funding

If this happens, then miraa will by law be recognised as a crop and be accorded similar status as those of coffee, tea, sugar cane or pyrethrum.

The report, which has gone through the first reading in Parliament, if adopted will determine the content of the proposed Miraa Management Bill, which the National Authority for the Campaign against Alcohol and Drug Abuse (Nacada) has been pushing to align miraa to alcohol law, popularly known as the Mututho law.

The law regulates drinking hours, alcohol content and packaging.

Nacada chairman John Mututho admits that without a law and policy governing the miraa industry, it would be difficult to ensure sanity in the trade that largely thrives on the whims of middlemen and farmers.

The Nacada boss says miraa is ranked 20th in the list of psychotropic substances, hence it requires regulation.

Mr Mututho thus wants stringent laws to cushion the industry against child labour, and provide time and age limits for consumers.

Nacada argues cultivation of the crop needs to be regulated just like tobacco.

He says consumption of miraa, which is designated as a psychotropic substance, needs to be aligned to the current road safety regulations and hygiene standards to protect users against ingestion of harmful substances and germs.

The House report points out: “The committee noted that despite documented potential benefits and effects of khat, the legal regime governing khat production and consumption are ambiguous where in some quarters it is regarded as a cash crop while other as a drug.”

Against this backdrop, Nacada is pushing for the definition of miraa. It is presently defined ambiguously as a horticultural crop in the category of ‘special crops’ under the Agriculture Act.

The committee wants the government to allocate more funding to institutions to enable them to carry comprehensive research into the plant to erase any ambiguities.

It says the research findings would provide the basis for marketing the crop locally and internationally and where necessary creating alternative markets for miraa farmers.

Information on the plant is blamed for the ban on miraa by Britain, as it is presumed to be a drug or an intoxicant.

And in a recent communication to Kenya’s Advisory Council on Misuse of Drugs, UK Home Secretary Theresa May insisted the ban would remain in force pending legislation she plans to table in Parliament.

The Miraa Regulatory Bill was mooted last year in Mombasa during a meeting between the civil societies and Nacada.

Nacada director Fazul Mohammed Yusuf said after the meeting that the proposed law would “regulate the sale and chewing of miraa.”

The proposed law is in the final stages of fine-tuning and is being championed by House legal and agricultural committee and MPS from the miraa growing regions.

However, farmers and consumers of the crop are seeking flexibility so they can start chewing it an hour or two earlier than alcohol consumers.

Farmers are also asking for exemption from the new transport regulations that limit speeds to 80 kilometres per hour.

They want this provision to be set aside to enable them reach the market in good time because they argue theirs is a highly perishable product.