Azimio Shows Distaste for Ruto’s Decision to Lift the GMO Ban 

Azimio la Umoja, One Kenya demands president Ruto to reinstate the ban on Genetically modified crops (GMOs).

Kalonzo Musyoka threatened to seek redress in the national assembly if the ban on these crops was not re-imposed. He cited a lack of public participation in the passing of the bill.

“On such a weighty matter, especially concerning food security, there should have been nationwide discourse through public engagement, education, and participation. The government did not engage in public participation,” he said.

This ban was enforced by the late former President Mwai Kibaki and backed up by Beth Mugo, the then minister for public health. She backed up her claim by citing research conducted by a French university that rats that consumed GMOs died of cancer. The Kenya medical research institute also backed up the claim.

Lifting the ban will adversely affect Kenyan small-scale farmers and the health of Kenyans in general, according to Kalonzo Musyoka. He has claimed that President lifting the ban threatened food security and EAC in general.

“The ban on GMOs will jeopardize trade within the EAC and cause unnecessary trade restrictions as the non-GMO neighboring countries attempt to protect their citizens from Kenyan GMO crops,” he stated.

The Azimio la Umoja principal also criticized the church leaders who were too fast to condemn the GMOs in 2012 for being silent regarding the matter this time round.

“Could it be that they have been pacified by this new administration and blinded to the moral and ethical question around GMOs that go against the four orders of nature? We urge our religious leaders and faith-based organizations not to sell their souls,” he posed.

The Wiper Leader questioned the rush to abolish the prohibition by pointing out that the country has failed to develop mechanisms for accountability and reparation in the event of potentially adverse impacts from GMO consumption and use.