President William Ruto has called on Kenyan leaders to stop politicising the livestock vaccination exercise.

Speaking on Sunday, Ruto insisted that leaders must be decent and stop bringing petty politics into things that matter to the people of Kenya.

He noted that the government has looked for markets for Kenyan meat, skin and livestock and to ensure they march international standards, livestock must be vaccinated against Foot and Mouth disease.

He further explained that the vaccine being used is locally produced by Kenyan scientists and it is also exported for use in other countries.

“I'm asking leaders of Kenya, let us be decent leaders. Let us learn not to politicise the things that matter to the people of Kenya, the economy of Kenya.

“We have opened up markets for our dairy products, we have opened up markets for our beef products, we have opened up markets for our leather products but we must contain diseases in our livestock and that vaccination is being undertaken by our scientists, with vaccines manufactured in Kenya, using Kenyans technology,” Ruto said.

The President added that the vaccination exercise has been there even before he was born and those leaders saying that it is not good for livestock must stop the petty politics.

“You are all dairy farmers and you know foot and mouth disease. This vaccination was there even when I was born but there are some people who have petty politics and want to tell us that the livestock vaccination exercise is illegal.”

Last week, Deputy President Kithure Kindiki explained that while the exercise has been there, the percentage of livestock that has been receiving the vaccination has been at about 10 per cent of the livestock in the country.

He said this needs to increase to at least 90 per cent to have the quality of meat and livestock exported from the country meet internationally acceptable standards.

“Many of our livestock are rejected when we take them out as live animals or beef because of the vaccination. It is purely a disease control issue.”

Foot-and-mouth disease (FMD), also known as hoof-and-mouth disease, is a highly contagious viral disease that affects cloven-hoofed animals, including cattle, pigs, sheep, goats.

It is caused by the Foot-and-mouth disease virus (FMDV), which belongs to the genus Aphthovirus within the family Picornaviridae.

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Ruto to leaders: Be decent, stop politicising livestock jab

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