Muslim leaders call for ban on miraa

By ALI ABDI

Isiolo, Kenya: Muslim leaders in Isiolo have called for a ban on the production, sale and chewing of miraa in the country.

The leaders, who included imams of 26 mosques in Isiolo town, were accompanied by officials from the National Muslim Leaders Forum (Namlef) and Supreme Council of Kenya Muslims (Supkem).

Led by Namlef upper Eastern Chairman Hussein Guleid and imams Hussein Abdullahi (Al-Ansar), Isaack Konchora (Al-Naim), Abdullahi Kara (Kambi Garba) and Hussein Maalim (Farouq), they called on the government, through the National Assembly to ban miraa.

‘‘We call on the government to ban production, sale and chewing of miraa, since it has been found to be destructive to those consuming it,’’ said Sheikh Guleid at Al-Ansar Mosque in Isiolo town.

The imams said they supported their colleagues from North-Eastern who have also called for a ban on miraa, adding that Nacada had also classified it as a drug.

“Miraa was banned in Asia, Europe and North America because the authorities there found it bad. Recently, Britain also followed suit. We should do the same in Kenya,’’ said Guleid.

‘‘The adverse effects of miraa far outweigh the economic gains and it is high time the government intervened by banning it,’’ said Guleid.

Islam, he said, prohibits the consumption of anything that alters one’s state of mind; he added that miraa is prohibited on those grounds.

‘‘We will talk to county assemblies in the region to ban the sell and chewing of miraa,’’ he said.