Members of the Meru County Assembly have criticised the National Authority for Campaign against Alcohol and Drug Abuse (NACADA) over its classification of miraa (khat) as a drug.
The County Assembly Members said NACADA's classification prompted a similar move by the United Kingdom which is set to ban the use and sale of the substance in the united Kingdom.
According to Julius Mbijiwe the member for Mwanganthia ward, Miraa is a major foreign exchange earner for the county where the constitution provides for conservation of cultural practices.
The Meru County Assembly members have formed a 13 member ad hoc committee to investigate challenges and issues pertaining to cultivation, harvesting, packaging, transportation, marketing and chewing of Miraa.
The members want President Uhuru Kenyatta to defend the consumption of Miraa. UK home secretary Theresa May had last month presented a ministerial statement outlining plans to ban the substance in the House of Commons.
The decision by the UK government is based on a report by the Advisory Council on the Misuse of Drugs released in January. The government said although the ACMD recommended that miraa should not be controlled there was evidence that the UK would become a "single, regional hub for the illegal onward trafficking of khat" to countries in Europe and North America that had outlawed the substance.
"Khat continues to feature prominently amongst the health and social harms, such as low attainment and family breakdown, cited by affected communities and the police and local authorities working with them." The ministerial statement reads in part.
The UK Times also reported that the plan by the UK to outlaw the substance was because of its potential links between its trade and Islamic extremism. Miraa trade, it is suspected, funds terrorism activities in some cases.
Traders had expressed fears over the proposal as the UK was Kenya's sole market for miraa with over after the Netherlands outlawed it last year with over 80 tonnes of miraa is exported to UK weekly. The drug is mainly used in the UK by Somali, Ethiopian, East African and Yemeni people
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