If there is a utopian ideology, commercial growing of Marijuana in Kenya for export is one of them.
Prof. George Wajackoyah, the unlikely Presidential contender has prioritised this plant with the aim to boost Treasury coffers.
He reasons that sale of Cannabis sativa in the international market would generate enough revenue for the government to pay off our debts and finance future budgets.
On the face value, the idea sounds very good and eager Kenyans are buying it without interrogating its efficacy.
Global Marijuana market is projected to grow into a 90.4 billion-Pound industry by 2026 (Ksh 100 Trillion) and therefore has attracted big multinationals, which are cashing in on gradual legalization especially in North America, South America and Asia regions.
Therefore, one cannot blame desperate Kenyans because any solution to the economic suffering that they are undergoing is most welcome.
I would imagine farmers in the country are salivating to the prospects of cultivating the crop for huge profits as portrayed by Prof Wajackoyah.
Give it to the scholar for literally unbundling a much feared, mysterious but easily available product and making it appear as a normal agricultural cash crop.
To say Prof Wajackoyah is attracting admiration and even support is an understatement.
His Marijuana campaign is resonating well with users and especially adventurers’ youths.
What is the truth and myth about Marijuana, locally known as bhang? Cannabis or marijuana is a psychoactive drug from the Cannabis plant.
Native to Central and South Asia, the cannabis plant has been used as a drug for both recreational and entheogen purposes and in various traditional medicines for centuries.
Nowadays, Cannabis is widely planted in many countries and regions of the world regardless of climate because like the common weed and flower, it can be planted indoors and outdoors.
Whereas Marijuana can be found in almost all parts of the world, many countries have tough laws prohibiting its growing and usage.
Several countries have legalised growing and use of Cannabis for medical and recreational purposes.
Countries such as the US, Israel and others, have legalised Cannabis albeit with very rigid legal, medical and regulatory regimes.
Scandinavian countries have strict rules and regulations on growing and consumption of Cannabis and like in many countries there is a thin line between its legality and illegality.
For instance, in the US, Cannabis is illegal in Federal Laws but individual States can pass bills to legalise it and to date 22 have done so.
In this regard, if Cannabis can be planted for commercial or non-commercial purposes and taking into account the plant can grow in all climates, including greenhouse environment, which country is Prof. Wajackoyah targeting to sell Cannabis to?
Unlike coffee or tea which are specific to certain climates and even soil composition, Cannabis is currently being legally and illegally grown in compounds and balconies in many cities in the world.
Even if farmers were to legally cultivate Cannabis as a cash crop, the strict standards and export requirements plus cut-throat competition from multinationals would result into big disappointment the same way, coffee, tea, cut flowers, avocados and other horticultural exports have turned out to be.
Exports would eventually benefit big shot middlemen or brokers giving the government little in terms of tax revenues and farmers holding the thin end of the stick.
My understanding therefore is no ready market for commercial cash crop called bhang exists in Africa, Asia, Americas, Europe and Greenland and even if it does, the big boys have taken over the market.
Maybe Prof. Wajackoyah is confusing Cannabis with Coca plant or Opium (Poppy plant), which are illegally grown in the far East and South America.
Nonetheless, these plants whose derivatives are Cocaine and Heroin have been banned in all nations unless for medical use only.
Instead of Prof. Wajackoyah using Cannabis to make his followers high without even touching the weed, he should be telling voters the truth about commercialization of the plant.
In the event Prof. Wajackoyah is targeting the local market, Cannabis which has been around for ages albeit underground, the sales cannot raise any meaningful revenue to pay the national debt leave alone financing the annual budgets.
This is why the external market for locally grown Cannabis that Prof. Wajackoyah is promising voters exists only in his fertile imagination.
Fortunately or unfortunately for this presidential candidate, few Kenyans are privy to factual information about cannabis and therefore he is definitely set to gain some votes “fraudulently”.
Kaunda wa Muchunku
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