Lawyer Kanjama faults counties for Muguka ban, says it is a national gov't mandate

Kanjama, who spoke on Citizen TV’s Weekend Show on Saturday opined that despite the two Coastal counties having legitimate constitutional mandates to guarantee the safety of their citizens, they ought to have taken the legal procedures before undertaking the ban.

He argues that the mandate of banning a product or service protected through an Act of Parliament is the sole power of the national government.

Additionally, the Senior Counsel said that Mombasa and Kilifi Counties should have instead petitioned Parliament which would then come up with the law to ban the product over the health concerns or come up with regularization measures to control the usage and sale of Muguka.

“Counties have a legitimate interest in the health of their residents and county health services in the issues they deal with…they have a legitimate role under the fourth schedule of Constitution in the control of drugs and pornography…Counties of Kilifi and Mombasa are genuinely concerned about residents abusing Muguka and suffering various deleterious effects mental and others that rise from addiction,” he explained.

“Question of banning is a national government legislation. County governments cannot choose to regulate a product or service by banning it altogether. They can control it by saying you will only sell it in this place or conditions…that is licensing, but to ban requires national government legislation. That is the correct procedure.”

He added: “There are countries like England or Netherlands that have banned the sale of Muguka because of effects in citizens… Mombasa has not petitioned parliament and that is where the issue is.”

According to Kenyan Law, Kanjama explained, only Parliament through the National Assembly and Senate can declare a substance narcotic or psychotropic through legislation.

He went on to reveal that even though the National Agency for the Campaign Against Drug Abuse (NACADA) has not declared Muguka a narcotic nor banned it,  the Agency is only mandated to regulate product usage.

“Under the relevant Act, NACADA is meant to manage the sector involving narcotic drugs or psychotropic substances. It is not NACADA that declares a substance narcotic or psychotropic, it is the Parliament of Kenya that declares it in the law,” Kanjama noted.

“Once the Parliament has declared it, NACADA comes in to engage, regulate, prohibit and work with various security services like police to ensure the drugs are not being distributed.”

Following the ban by Mombasa Governor Abdulswamad Nassir and his Kilifi counterpart Gideon Mung'aro, leaders farmers and leaders from Embu have protested the move decrying job losses and a looming collapse of livelihoods in the region.

Embu Governor Cecily Mbarire Mbarire on Friday also threatened to take legal action to protect the livelihoods of her community which she said pockets about Ksh.22 billion per year from the sale of Muguka.