Kenya strives to strike a balance on highly addictive stimulant muguka

In May 2024, Mombasa County governor Abdulswamad Nassir banned the sale, supply and consumption of muguka in the coastal county. “We won’t die so others live [We won’t let citizens die so that others can reap the profits],” he said about the possible impact of this ban on farmers.

Muguka is a low-cost, highly addictive variant of khat (Catha edulis) grown in Embu, Meru and Tharaka-Nithi counties in central Kenya. Both muguka and miraa stem from the same plant, but muguka consists solely of the leaves, while the pricier miraa includes the stems and leaves.

However, President William Ruto overturned the ban on muguka, and the high court’s Justice Lucy Njuguna issued a restraining order to the coastal counties from effecting the ban until 8 July 2024. 

Miraa/muguka is a scheduled crop under the Crop Act 2013 and the Miraa Regulations 2022. The latter obligates the government to allocate funds for the farming, licensing, promotion, regulation, transportation, aggregation, selling, marketing and export of the crops.

Miraa is also a multimillion-shilling export crop to Somalia and has lucrative local markets. The miraa-growing region consistently votes for and supports the current government, which has rewarded it with cabinet positions and favourable resource allocation.

A National Authority for the Campaign Against Drug Abuse (Nacada) study, however, classifies miraa/muguka as a drug containing the psychoactive substances cathinone and cathine, which stimulate the central nervous system. Chewing it produces a euphoric effect. Nacada says consuming the leafy stimulant causes increased energy, alertness and enhanced mood. 

But it also leads to dehydration, reproductive health problems, dental decay, constipation, insomnia, impaired cognition, dizziness, anxiety and dependence.

Muguka is often consumed in combination with various stimulants, including narcotics, alcohol, cannabis and pharmaceuticals. “We take jaba [slang for miraa] with tap tap [slang for hard drugs] and prescribed diverted pharmaceuticals [such as sedatives] to get more steam,” says a muguka chewer who spoke to ENACT anonymously.

Diazepam is a sedative used to sweeten and enhance the effect of miraa. These prescription drugs are often obtained from pharmacies.

Though widely consumed in Kenya, Ethiopia, Djibouti and Somalia, khat and muguka face diverse levels of criminalisation and restrictions in countries like Tanzania and Rwanda. They are smuggled throughout the region across the Lamu-Somalia border and are banned in most European countries, the US and Canada.

Shortly after Nassir issued his ban, the governors of the coastal counties of Kilifi, Kwale and Taita-Taveta imposed their own restrictions and taxes on muguka sale and supply. Their reason was the strain put on their limited rehabilitation facilities due to the adverse health impacts of muguka, especially on young people. 

The coastal leaders claim the widely chewed muguka is increasingly sold to and consumed by school-going children, and that there is a high school dropout rate among users. These leaders see it as a silent narcotic epidemic destroying lives and turning young people into zombie addicts.

Banning the stimulant gained huge support from Muslim religious leaders who expressed displeasure with the stimulant’s effects on young people’s mental health in northern and coastal Kenya. But it triggered protests from the farmers and leaders in muguka-growing regions.

At the height of the muguka debate, Ruto invited coastal governors to a stakeholder meeting with their counterparts from muguka-growing regions. The coastal leaders rebuffed the invitation.

But after meeting a selection of Embu County leaders, the president’s office stated that “with muguka having been recognised by national legislation, any other laws or orders that contradict national legislation [are] null and void”.

“Normalcy has returned – but there is a cautious approach in the sale of muguka on the part of the traders,” said human rights activist Shipeta Hezron. He pointed out that calls to ban or regulate the drug should be made with broader stakeholder deliberations and not with political statements which cannot be implemented in light of current legal frameworks.

Many reported mental and physical health impacts of muguka and miraa consumption are based on limited empirical data. Multifaceted research by mandated state agencies is needed on the effects of cathinone and cathine on users of khat products. Nacada recommends research to ascertain the concentrations of cathinone and cathine in miraa and muguka grown in different parts of the country.

Empirical research to better understand and reclassify muguka and miraa as Class C substances has also been proposed by the Kenya Medical Association. The findings of such inquiry should form the basis for the public to participate in deliberations on reviewing miraa regulations and how best to institute them.

Such a review may include extending the regulations that govern the production, supply, transportation and consumption of alcohol and tobacco to the khat sector. For instance, a review of Miraa Regulations 2022 could introduce stiff penalties for the sale of khat products to school-going children and under-18s.

Similar to restrictions on alcohol and tobacco product advertising and promotion, a warning on the possible long-term health effects of muguka should be made available to users.

At the same time, restrictions on miraa shops close to learning institutions could be enforced. And, as per the Nacada study, health education awareness programmes on the potential health hazards of khat chewing should be implemented in schools. DM

Halkano Wario, ROCO East Africa, and Nicodemus Minde, Researcher, ISS Nairobi.

A previous version of this article was published by ENACT.

First published by ISS Today.