Man jailed for 1 year after confessing to bhang cultivation in Eldoret

Geoffrey Lingori, a certificate holder in mechanics from the Rift Valley Technical Training Institute (RVTTI) in Eldoret, was convicted and sentenced by Senior Resident Magistrate Beatrice Toroitich.

In his mitigation, Lingori stunned the packed court when he admitted to cultivating the illegal crop purely for medical purposes.

He told the magistrate that a medical doctor from a government hospital had prescribed bhang for his ailing leg joints as opposed to modern medicine.

The convict further told the court that he had been relying on the illegal crop to treat his legs, noting that it had become difficult for him to stop using the drug that was prescribed by the government medic.

Lingori pleaded guilty to the charge of being in possession of cannabis sativa in contravention of the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances Act when he first appeared before Principal Magistrate Kimani Mukabi last month.

The offence was committed on August 15, 2026, at Malel area in Kapseret Sub-County, Uasin Gishu County, where police officers attached to the Directorate of Criminal Investigations (DCI) in Eldoret, acting on a tip-off, found him cultivating cannabis weighing 34,000 grams with a street value of Ksh.1,032,000.

Lingori, who lived alone after divorcing his wife, was also charged with trafficking cannabis weighing 50 grams with a street value of Ksh.1,500.