Nandi Senator Samson Cherargei has opposed plans to import genetically modified maize into the country amid the high cost of living and biting drought.
Trade, Investment and Industry Cabinet Secretary Moses Kuria on Thursday, November 18, announced that he will today sign a gazette notice authorising the shipment of 10 million bags of duty-free maize into the country.
He said the duty-free window for the importation of the maize will last for about six months.
Reacting to the pronouncement on Friday, Cherargei said the plans to flood the country with GMO maize was a bad idea.
The outspoken legislator noted that farmers in the Rift Valley are currently harvesting maize and the CS should suspend the plans until the government clears all this year’s crops to avoid huge losses on the part of local producers.
“Our Rift Valley farmers are currently harvesting maize, the importation of maize should stop until govt has mopped up all this year’s crop and avoid lowering prices that don’t match the inputs incurred by maize farmers!” Cherargei tweeted.
CS Moses kuria at his usual element but our Rift Valley farmers are currently harvesting maize , the importation of maize should stop until govt has mopped up all this year’s crop & avoid lowering prices that doesn’t match the inputs incurred by maize farmers!.
— Senator Kiprotich Arap Cherargei (@scherargei) November 18, 2022
Cherargei is among Kenyans who have expressed concerns over the importation of GMO products into the country with some citing serious health implications.
Haha,in short Moses Kuria the Cabinet secretary for Trade, Investment and Industry is saying that we will all die anyway. No man is immortal. And added that mapema ndio best. Na akapigiwa makofi for oozing such wisdom. This country is sick bwana.
— Eng.Ole Kaelo (@Ole_Kaelo) November 18, 2022
Kuria had, albeit with a light touch stated that there was no harm in bringing in GMO maize as Kenyans were, in any case, dying from so many causes.
“We have two deliberate steps. One is that we have so many things that can kill us in this country,” he said at the Strathmore Business School during a Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises forum. “Living in this country you are a candidate for death,” he said, sending the audience into sustained laughter.
Kuria said that because there were so many things competing for death, there would be nothing wrong to add GMOs to that list.
“That’s why we have deliberately decided to allow GMOs into this country,” he said. He explained that the decision to allow the importation of duty-free maize was because the country is experiencing a dire food shortage which has exposed more than four million Kenyans to hunger.
The Cabinet approved the lifting of the ban on October 3, paving way for the cultivation and importation of GMO crops including maize after a decade.
In a statement, the government said the lifting of the ban imposed in 2012 will improve food security in the country amid the ravaging drought that has caused hunger in more than 20 counties.
“In accordance with the recommendation of the Task Force to Review Matters Relating to Genetically Modified Foods and Food Safety, and in fidelity with the guidelines of the National Biosafety Authority on all applicable international treaties including the Cartagena Protocol on Biosafety (CPB), Cabinet vacated its earlier decision of November 8, 2012 prohibiting the open cultivation of genetically modified crops and the importation of food crops and animal feeds produced through biotechnology innovations, effectively lifting the ban on Genetically Modified Crops,” the government said.
