Trade CS pledges State's input in search for new miraa markets

Trade Cabinet Secretary Peter Munya [File, Standard]

The national Government will continue to aggressively explore new markets for miraa, Trade Cabinet Secretary Peter Munya has said.

Addressing a miraa traders' lobby on Monday, Mr Munya admitted that the Government's attempt to pursue closed markets for the stimulant had proved difficult, making it to instead look for new markets.

Countries that have outlawed miraa consumption and imports from Kenya include  Tanzania, where a huge market is said to have existed.

Others are United Kingdom and the Netherlands, where exports were previously driven by the sizable immigrant Somali community.

The Netherlands banned miraa imports in 2012, saying a study had found the consumption of the stimulant had adverse health and social effects on consumers.

Just more than 843 tonnes of khat worth Sh1.4 billion passed through Amsterdam’s Schiphol in 2010, up from 714 tonnes in 2009 and 693 tonnes in 2008.

The UK banned the imports in 2013, saying it threatened to become the new smuggling route for khat into Europe, where 15 of the European Union’s 27 states and Norway had already listed the stimulant as an illegal narcotic.

According to Nyambene Miraa Traders Association (Nyamita) lobby that met Munya on Monday, the CS said the energies should be concentrated on penetrable markets.

“He was of the view that countries such as the UK that already have laws against miraa would take time and demand a thorough strategy over a long period,” said a Nyamita official.