NAIROBI, Kenya, Mar 30 — Former Law Society of Kenya (LSK) President Nelson Havi has announced plans to file a constitutional petition seeking to decriminalize the cultivation, processing, sale, and use of marijuana in Kenya.
Havi, in a statement, Sunday indicated that he will move to court in the coming week to challenge existing legal provisions that outlaw the substance, arguing that such restrictions are unconstitutional.
“I will in the next coming week file a constitutional petition to declare as unconstitutional all sections of the law criminalizing the growing, processing, sale and use of marijuana,” Havi stated.
He however did not provide the exact date he will file the petition.
This is not the first time the legalization of marijuana has been a subject of public debate in Kenya.
In the run-up to the 2022 General Election, Roots Party presidential candidate George Wajackoyah was a vocal proponent of the move, arguing that marijuana cultivation could significantly boost the country’s economy.
Wajackoyah contended at the time that growing marijuana in Nyeri County alone for a year could generate enough revenue to clear Kenya’s debt.
Sh8mn per acre
He estimated that an acre of marijuana could yield up to Sh8 million per harvest.
“The whole of Nyeri county is 583,000 acres. This means that if we grew Bangi in Nyeri county, Nyeri residents will earn USD45 billion or Sh4.6 trillion per harvest,” he claimed at the time.
“And because Bangi is harvested twice a year, it means Nyeri residents will earn USD92 Billion or Sh9.2 trillion every year,” he said.
Wajackoyah said that if the country grew Marijuana in Nyeri alone, the country would build two expressways in each county in Kenya.
He added that if Marijuana is grown in Nyeri alone, each Kenyan could get a dividend cheque of Sh200,000 every year from the sale of bhang.
Wajackoyah also drew historical parallels, noting that the wealth of the Mount Kenya region was built on cash crops such as coffee and tea.
“Mt. Kenya was made wealthy by two cash crops-coffee and tea. In fact, Kikuyus got their economic head-start head start in 1923 when they were allowed to grow coffee and tea. Before 1923, it was illegal for any indigenous Kenyan to grow both crops,” he said.
Cannabis is a controlled substance and is scheduled under the Single Narcotic Convention of 1961 as amended by the 1972 protocol, the Convention on Psychotropic substances of 1971 and United Nations Convention against illicit trafficking in Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances of 1988.
Source: capitalfm
