In May, Mombasa County Governor Abdulswamad Nassir banned the sale, supply and consumption of muguka in the coastal county. ‘We won’t die so others live [We won’t let citizens die so that others can reap the profits],’ he said about the possible impact of this ban on farmers.
Muguka is a low-cost, highly addictive variant of khat (Catha edulis) grown in Embu, Meru and Tharaka-Nithi counties in central Kenya. Derived from the same plant, muguka consists of the leaves while the pricier version, miraa, includes the stems and the leaves.
However, President William Ruto overturned the ban on muguka, and the High Court’s Justice Lucy Njuguna issued a restraining order to the coastal counties from effecting the ban until 8 July. Miraa/muguka is a scheduled crop under the Crop Act 2013 and the Miraa Regulations 2022. The latter obligates the government to allocate funds for the farming, licensing, promotion, regulation, transportation, aggregation, selling, marketing and export of the crops.
Miraa is also a multimillion-shilling export cash crop to Somalia and has lucrative local markets. The miraa-growing region has a track record of voting overwhelmingly for the current government, and the region has ostensibly been repaid for several cabinet positions and has had a history of being favoured regarding resource allocation.
A National Authority for the Campaign Against Drug Abuse (NACADA) study, however, classifies miraa/muguka as a drug containing the psychoactive substances cathinone and cathine, which stimulate the central nervous system. When chewed, it has a euphoric effect. NACADA says consumption of the leafy stimulant causes increased energy, alertness and enhanced mood. But it also causes dehydration, reproductive health problems, dental decay, constipation, insomnia, impaired cognitive functioning, dizziness, anxiety and dependence.
Muguka is often consumed in combination with an assortment of other stimulants, including narcotics, alcohol, cannabis and pharmaceuticals. ‘We take jaba [slang for miraa] with tap tap [slang for hard drugs] and prescribed diverted pharmaceuticals [such as sedatives] to get more steam,’ says a muguka chewer who spoke to ENACT anonymously. Diazepam is one of the sedatives used to sweeten miraa and enhance stimulation. These prescription drugs are often obtained from pharmacies.
Though widely consumed in Kenya, Ethiopia, Djibouti and Somalia, khat and muguka face diverse levels of criminalisation and restrictions in countries like Tanzania and Rwanda. It is smuggled throughout the region, including across the Lamu-Somalia border, and is banned in most European countries, the United States and Canada.
Shortly after Nassir issued his ban, the governors of the coastal counties of Kilifi, Kwale and Taita-Taveta joined the fray, banning or restricting muguka, or increasing county taxes on its sale and supply. Their reason was the strain put on their limited rehabilitation facilities because of the adverse health impacts of muguka, especially on the youth. The coastal leaders claim the widely chewed muguka is increasingly sold to and consumed by school-going children, and that there is a high school dropout rate among youth who use the drug. These leaders see it as a silent narcotic epidemic destroying lives and turning the youth into zombie addicts.
Banning the stimulant gained huge support from Muslim religious leaders who expressed displeasure with the stimulant’s effects on youth mental health in northern and coastal Kenya. But it triggered protests from the farmers and leaders in muguka-growing regions.
At the height of the muguka debate, Ruto reached out to the coastal governors and invited them to a stakeholder meeting that included their counterparts from muguka-growing regions. The coastal leaders rebuffed the invitation. But after meeting a selection of leaders from Embu County, the president’s office issued a statement pointing out that ‘with muguka having been recognised by national legislation, any other laws or orders that contradict national legislation [are] null and void.’
‘Normalcy has returned [as the ban is no longer in place] – but there is a cautious approach in the sale of muguka on the part of the traders,’ human rights activist Shipeta Hezron said on the status of the ban at the coast. He says the call to ban or regulate the drug should be done with broader stakeholder deliberations and not with statements made by politicians, such as the governors, which cannot be implemented in the light of current legal frameworks.
Many of the reported mental and physical health impacts of muguka and miraa consumption are based on limited empirical data. Multifaceted research by mandated state agencies is needed on the effects of cathinone and cathine on users of khat products. NACADA recommends research to ascertain the concentrations of cathinone and cathine in miraa and muguka grown in different parts of the country.
The empirical path to better understand and reclassify muguka and miraa as Class C substances has also been proposed by the Kenya Medical Association. The findings of such research should form the basis for the public to participate in deliberations on reviewing the Miraa Regulations and how best to institute these.
Such a review may include extending the regulations that govern the production, supply, transportation and consumption of alcohol and tobacco to the khat sector. For example, the Miraa Regulations 2022 could be revised to introduce stiff penalties for the sale of khat products to school-going children and under-18s. Similar to restrictions on alcohol and tobacco product advertising and promotion, a warning on the possible long-term health effects of muguka should be made available to users.
At the same time, restrictions on miraa shops close to learning institutions could be enforced. And, as per the NACADA study, health education awareness programmes on the potential health hazards of khat chewing should be implemented in schools.
Halkano Wario, ROCO East Africa and Nicodemus Minde, Researcher, ISS Nairobi
Image: Marcel Crozet
