President William Ruto has ordered the Ministry of Agriculture and Livestock to convene a meeting with stakeholders and address concerns raised on the sale and use of muguka.
It follows the ban of the stimulant, a variety of Miraa, by Kilifi and Mombasa counties.
The President on Monday met with the leadership of Embu county led by Governor Cecil Mbarire, her deputy, senator, woman representative and members of national and county assembly from the county.
During the meeting, Agriculture CS Mithika Linturi informed the Prsident that muguka is a scheduled crop in accordance with the Crops Act, 2013 and the Miraa Regulations 2013.
He said the two pieces of legislation were passed by the National Assembly and the Senate with the concurrence of the Council of Governors.
“To address concerns of all parties and stakeholders, the Ministry of Agriculture and Livestock is directed to convene a consultative forum to address concerns raised and agree on the implementation of the Miraa/Muguka Regulations 2023,” the President said in a dispatch from State House said.
He noted that having been passed by Parliament, the regulations obligate the government to allocate funds for the farming, licensing, promotion, regulation, transportation, aggregation, selling, marketing and export of the crops.
To this end, Ruto said the government will pump Sh500 million in the 2024-25 Financial Year for value addition of the scheduled crops as part of the scaling up of their aggregation, grading, pricing, packaging and value addition.
On pricing, he said the Council of Governors has already nominated three members to the Miraa/Muguka Pricing Committee to regulate the prices in accordance with the Crops Act, 2023.
But despite the move, the President said the government remains steadfast in its commitment in the fight against drugs, illicit brews and other illegal substances.
