Nairobi News

The 2013 presidential aspirant Mwalimu Abduba Dida added his voice to the ongoing conversation regarding the lifting of the ban on the production of genetically modified crops (GMO) by President William Ruto on October 3, 2022.

Mr Dida accused President Ruto of creating problems that did not exist in Kenya and using too much money to solve the said problems.

“With proper investment in agriculture and infrastructure in this sector, we would have a surplus to export. We wouldn’t need GMOs.

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Why are we behaving as if we are in a corner? We are creating problems that do not exist then using billions to solve them,” said Mr Dida on his verified Twitter account.

President William Ruto lifted the ban that was put in place ten years ago following the recommendation of a task force set up to review matters relating to GMOs and food safety.

“As part of the medium to long term responses to the ongoing drought, and as a progressive step towards significantly redefining agriculture in Kenya by adopting crops that are resistant to pests and disease, Cabinet also considered various expert and technical reports on the adoption of biotechnology

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“Including reports of Kenya’s National Biosafety Authority (NBA), World Health Organization (WHO), the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), United States of America’s Food and Drug Administration (FDA), and the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA),” read a statement from the meeting President Ruto held with his Cabinet Secretaries.

Currently, drought is being experienced in 23 arid and semi-arid locations in Kenya.

The Daily Nation reported that On November 8, 2012, President Mwai Kibaki banned genetically modified foods following safety concerns about the food by then-Minister for Public Health Beth Mugo.

She cited a study that had been released that linked cancer in rats to consumption of modified foods, a concern that was also backed by the Kenyan Medical Research Institute (Kemri).

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