Religious leaders in Kilifi County have supported the ban on the transportation, sale, and consumption of muguka by Mombasa and Kilifi County Governors Abdulswamad Sharrif Nassir and Gideon Mung’aro in their counties.
The clergymen from the Christian and Muslim faiths called upon the other four coastal county governors to follow suit in order to completely stop the herb from reaching the counties and save thousands of young people from destruction.
Speaking to journalists at the New Life Ministries church in Kilifi Town, the clerics said that the intoxicant had destroyed many young people, including primary school pupils, as it was cheaply available, and lauded the two governors for taking what they described as a bold step.
Led by Bishop Amos Lewa, the Chairman of the House of Bishops in Kilifi County, the religious leaders said they would not keep quiet as muguka and other intoxicants continue to destroy the county’s future generations.
Bishop Lewa said some youngsters had formed a habit of stealing from their parents in order to buy muguka, while others were diverting their school fees to buy the herb, thus compounding the problem of school dropouts in the county.
On his part, Bishop Thomas Kakala of the JCC Ministries, who is also the patron of the Malindi Pastors Fellowship, said the Coast region was already reeling under the burden of the unending vice of narcotic drug trade and abuse and that the ban on muguka would be a great relief.
“We already have the burden of narcotic drugs, which are expensive and hard to access. Now muguka is being sold openly and cheaply and is being accessed even by primary school pupils,” he said.
He said many families had broken up due to the abuse of the intoxicant “because male users became impotent” and urged muguka traders to find alternative businesses.
Sheikh Famau Mohamed Famau, a veteran anti-narcotic drugs crusader in Kilifi County, said the religious leaders had received the news of the ban with great joy and urged traders in Muguka to seek alternative businesses.
“Many of our youths are not in school because of muguka, yet it is the government policy that all children should go to school,” he said, adding that this has led to the emergence of juvenile criminals harassing innocent wananchi in various coastal towns.
Ustadh Badi Islam, the Kilifi branch chairman of the Kenya Muslims National Advisory Council (KEMNAC), asked other coastal governors to ban the product in their counties.
Bishop James Chigodi of the New Life Ministries Church in Kilifi County said muguka was an intoxicating drug harmful to human health and should not be allowed anywhere in Kenya.
He said many youngsters were stealing from their parents or diverting school fees to buy muguka, sentiments that were echoed by Ustadh Hamisi from Masjid Khairati.
By Emmanuel Masha
