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{
    "id": 439418,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/439418/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 237,
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    "content": "We also found out that the balance of trade in as far as miraa is concerned is in favour of the marketers at the expense of the farmers. We also found out that there is a huge industry both locally and internationally and miraa could be the biggest foreign exchange earner to this country. From the various Government departments, we also found out that there is no foreign policy that regards either the trade of miraa or the export of miraa to the various countries that it is grown. The Committee also made a finding that the banning of miraa internationally will render many Kenyans jobless since it is a source of livelihood. It would also result in the escalation of crime at local and international levels because it would render a number of persons who rely on miraa jobless. Hon. Temporary Deputy Speaker, we also felt as a Committee that there was a possibility of a strained relationship between various Governments if the ban was effected. One of the items that we relied on during our Committee sittings was a report that came from the Advisory Council on Misuse of Drugs. That Committee was formed in the UK to look at issues on whether miraa is or is not a drug. That Committee from the UK found out that, as a fact, miraa on its own did not have any effects - either health or any social effects on the person. The Committee, therefore, picked that report of the Advisory Council on Misuse of Drugs as one of its guiding tools in the course of the work that it did. Hon. Temporary Deputy Speaker, this Report in Chapter 1 goes ahead to explain what exactly Khat is in its biological and scientific terms, among other issues. That is what it means to people who grow it. Hon. Temporary Deputy Speaker, this Committee looked at the history of Khat since 1970s and the engagement of the Government in as far as Miraa is concerned, throughout the terms that were there and through the presidents who have been leading Kenya. There has not been any major support to this industry by the Government. Hon. Temporary Deputy Speaker, one of the issues we had to deal with was the imminent ban of Miraa by the United Kingdom (UK). One of the issues that gave birth to this Committee was the threat by the UK to ban Miraa in July, 2013. One of the issues that the UK was raising about Miraa as a crop or Khati, as they call it, was that, it would destabilize the communities living in the UK and therefore, expose them to vulnerable situations. Hon. Temporary Deputy Speaker, we also sought be guided by the Third Report of the Advisory Council on the misuse of drugs. The Committee decided locus in quo ; to visit the areas that grow Miraa and we visited Meru County. As a Committee, we were able to engage farmers, consumers and traders of Miraa . When we visited farms as a Committee, we found that Khati on its own takes around five to seven years to mature. It can be inter-cropped with other crops among them beans, yams and maize. Hon. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Khati does not require expensive farm inputs to be produced. Therefore, we got various findings from Meru and Embu counties where"
}