Mombasa Governor Abdulswamad Sherriff Nassir has dismissed claims that the ban on muguka – a variant of Khat is meant to hurt farmers and traders from the Mount Kenya region economically.
Appearing on Citizen TV’s Sunday Live on June 2, 2024, the Mombasa Governor explained that the decision was reached after continued consultations with community leaders and clerics on the drug’s effects on the county’s residents.
Nassir revealed that about 30 per cent of muguka consumers on the coast are youth under the age of 18, and a more significant percentage of those between 20 and 30 abusing the drug started below the age of 18.
“Someone had to do something; something had to be done.
“It is not fair or right that we have to live in a situation where our destiny is to die so that someone else can live,” Governor Nassir stated.
Kilifi and Taita Taveta Counties are the other two that had imposed a ban on muguka before a High Court ruling suspended the orders pending a hearing on June 8, 2024.
Kwale County, on the other hand, has imposed punitive levies on the crop in its 2024/2025 finance bill. Business permits will cost Ksh50,000, up from Ksh10,000.
Offloading a motorbike ferrying Muguka in Kwale will cost Ksh30,000, up from Ksh3,000; a pick-up will cost Ksh80,000, and a lorry will cost Ksh300,000.
Governor Nassir stated that his ban on muguka is meant to reform the lives of many youths affected in Mombasa County.
“In our Finance Act, it is Ksh.6,000 per bag of muguka, and instead of having another charge, we would prefer to keep it at Ksh.6,000 until the matter is determined. Assuming a truck carries about 300 bags… I’d be better off without that Ksh.1.8 million,” the governor said in the interview.
Governor Nassir noted that he will meet with Agriculture Cabinet Secretary Mithika Linturi and other delegates to address the matter. He, however, stated that the CS is biased because he is from a khat-growing region.
Muguka, according to the governor, has resulted in security, health, economic, and other social issues among residents of Mombasa and thus should be regulated.
