Meru County Woman Representative Florence Kajuju has called on President Uhuru Kenyatta to initiate talks with the government of Somalia over the ban on miraa.
Speaking on the sidelines of an inspection tour of the Lunga Lunga one stop boarder post by the parliamentary committee on regional integration which she chairs, Ms Kajuju termed the decision as regrettable.
She suggested that the issue has to be taken up diplomatically and through the ministry of foreign affairs in order to ensure that the ban does not persist.
Ms Kajuju explained that after the ban of miraa in the United Kingdom, the county relied entirely on the sale of stimulant in Somalia.
She added that within the two days that the ban has been imposed,
over Sh100 million has been lost hence affecting the traders, farmers and their families.
“Basically as the people of Meru County, our livelihood relies on miraa. Out of the proceeds of miraa we have been able to educate our children and even cater for other expenses,” she said.
The Somali government blamed Meru Governor Peter Munya over the ban following his visit to Hargesia in July.
“We learnt with a lot of concern that the central republic of Somalia has imposed a ban on cargo planes that transport miraa to the country. It is actually a very regrettable decision,” she said.
Ms Kajuju accused Mr Munya for what she termed as taking upon himself matters which are beyond his mandate.
“If Mr Munya is the reason as to why this ban has been imposed then he missed a very huge point and he does not deserve to be a leader of the people of Meru County,” she said.
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The remarks were backed the MP for Igembe Central Kubai Iringo who asked the governor who is also the chairman of Council of Governors to stop meddling in international affairs.
“We pray that the Somali government will listen to us and find that Mr Munya was not a representative of Kenya and we can say he was not a representing Meru because he wanted to kill the Meru community,” he said.
