Now UK won't ban khat
By: CATHERINE RIUNGU
Kenya's miraa (khat) trade is safe and sound - Britain will not ban its consumption after all.
British Home Secretary Charles Clarke said he would not ban miraa, or khat, in the UK, the main market for Kenya and hub for Europe.
The announcement followed a decision of the Advisory Committee on Drug Misuse, to whom Mr Clarke had forwarded a report which said 49 per of the local Somalis wanted the drug banned.
It also came as a result of a Kenya government intervention after the Nyambene Miraa Trade Association (Nyamita), under the auspices of the Kenya Private Sector Forum, sought to save the industry.
The Agriculture ministry collated all reports of research, including by the World Health Organisation, the National Council for Science and Technology as well as scientists in Egypt and Britain, all of whom concluded that the effect of miraa was too mild to warrant a ban.
The researchers were also said to have drawn the conclusion from the fact that the Meru had chewed the drug through the ages, but had not reported any serious health problems.
The two ministries and that of Foreign Affairs also noted that, under the World Trade Organisation rules, no country could ban a fresh produce without giving scientific proof of the harm it can do.
They also noted a report which cited the UK research team's confession that it was limited in data collection due to the sensitivity of miraa. Most people were reluctant to comment for fear of victimisation, they quoted the report as saying.
Nyamita now intends to pressure the Government to streamline miraa growing and trade. It is also to study all that is scientifically known about the twig so that any gaps may filled, and work with the Njuri Ncheke (traditional council of elders) to encourage organic farming so that the crop may maintain its natural freshness and purity in the market.
The organisation's other assignment is to tackle poverty, high illiteracy and school drop-out rates, insecurity, HIV and Aids and a slow pace of economic development in the growing areas.
They hope to solve the social problems by introducing modern technology in farming and processing for export.
If the ban were effected, Kenya would lose up to Sh19 billion and an estimated 500,000 jobs a year. In some growing areas such as Embu, miraa is fast replacing coffee and tea, as the farmers argue that the drug has better returns., especially due to the depressed world coffee prices. Here a bag of miraa sells for between Sh2,500 and Sh3,500. A miraa bush matures within six years of planting, after which the fast-growing tree gives a weekly harvest during the rainy season. It needs little, if any, spraying or fertiliser, making growing it one of the most profitable farm activities.
There are no value-adding costs since it is consumed fresh, and no sophisticated packaging associated with modern consumer goods. Chewing it is associated with a feeling of euphoria but, lately, there has been intense lobbying for its ban.
The US, Sweden, Canada and Norway, Tanzania and Eritrea have outlawed it over health concerns.
Khat is grown in mountainous areas across Eastern Africa and the Arabian Peninsula. It has been grown for centuries in the Horn of Africa and the Arabian Peninsula and is widely used by Muslim immigrants who reject alcohol.
In Kenya, it is mostly grown in Meru North district. Exports have more than doubled since the first shipment to Europe in 1970, with most of the sales having intensified over the past decade. Since the 1980 WHO declaration of khat as a drug, the Kenya government has taken a hands-off approach to monitoring its use and export despite its economic value. Its exports are also unofficially ranked as "legal and illegal" - legal in Somalia, illegal in Saudi Arabia.
In total, Kenya produces an estimated 150 tonnes of khat a week which goes, in addition to Somalia, to European countries including Britain and the Netherlands where large populations of Yemeni, Somali and Kenyan immigrants offer a lucrative market. The surge in its trade is traced to the 1980s collapse of the Somalia government following the ouster of strongman Siad Barre that sent hundreds of Somali and Ethiopian refugees to Europe, giving khat trade an international face.
Generally, a small-scale khat farmer earns some Sh30,000 a month, not a bad income in a country where more than half of the population lives on less than a dollar a day, compared to coffee whose income is about Sh20,000 a year. The local economy in the growing zone is entirely dependent on the crop with local authorities raking in millions from trade licences. Hundreds of youths are said to be employed either as middle-level traders or are hired as clerks and casual labourers. The trade has attracted ancillary business services such as coffee and soda which go well with the twig sellers. Some of these outlets operate 24 hours to serve consumers who chew the night away on the addictive twig. Other drinks that go with khat are cheap albeit licensed liquors such as Napoleon, Marry Cane and Kenya King.
Source: Daily Nation, Jan. 22, 2006
