The storm stirred by the expected lifting of the ban on the importation of genetically modified organisms (GMOs) foods seems to have petered out in the last few weeks.
When Deputy President William Ruto declared in August during the fourth National Biosafety Conference at the School of Monetary Studies in Nairobi that the government would soon step down the ill-advised ban, the anti-biotechnology cranked into action—ratcheted up their propaganda in street protests across the country.
But it wasn’t entirely unexpected because Kenyans have a strange DNA that expresses their proclivity of jumping into anything and expending copious amounts of adrenalin in sterile debates before quickly discarding them for another! A country of immense passion, yet with a legendary short memory!
Since the hysteria on GMOs calmed, there have been a myriad of ‘hot issues’ that have feverishly gripped our national discourse—cheap Ugandan sugar imports that were claimed to be a Jubilee plot to commit economic genocide in Western region, the teachers’ pay rise dispute, National Youth Service (NYS) fraud, President Uhuru Kenyatta impeachment motion, and now the ‘lost’ Eurobond billions and suffering economy! In our true character, we had plenty of time to shout about and hold rallies for a country that should use its boundless energy and entrepreneurial spirit to mobilise farmers to produce more food to stem the ever lurking food insecurity threat.
Why, for instance, are patriots not organising a mother-of-all rallies at Uhuru Park to demand action from the government to ensure the commercial release of Bt maize and cotton?
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Human beings are ‘GMO’ products, too...[/caption]
Why is the National Biosafety Authority not guiding debate on adoption of biotech? Can it account for its very costly existence to the taxpayer or is just another elite burden on Wanjiku? This is critical because in Uganda, President Yoweri Museveni has taken the lead in the debate.
He recently handed strong message to the legislators who have been dilly-dallying on the passage of law on application of biotechnology; he told them to the face that those with doubt about biotech had better modernise their thinking!
He wants the stalemate on the law unlocked to alleviate the suffering of farmers who bear the burden of bacterial banana wilt. “Biotechnology is to impart certain qualities.
Legislators who are against it should modernise their thinking,” he said. Museveni’s endorsement of biotechnology is significant. Why? Ugandan farmers are suffering the curse of banana wilt and want a legal instrument to allow them access a resistant transgenic variety of their beloved ‘matooke’.
Ugandans, like some Kenyan communities, love bananas—and this is why they are anxious that their staple food that is threatened by a bacterial wilt disease—which turns the plant’s sap into ooze, wilts the leaves, rots the fruit and eventually destroys the crop—is dealt a mortal blow through technology.
The tragedy is that scientists at Uganda’s National Agricultural Research Organisation (Naro), through funding from the Gates Foundation, created a genetically modified banana by inserting a green pepper gene into the banana’s genome, but farmers cannot access the variety. The new gene seems to trigger a process that kills infected cells and saves the plant. Naro wants to distribute the seeds for free, but they can’t. Why?
There is no regulation fashioned out of the Cartagena protocol to guide the process. I hope Museveni’s wisdom will verily infect his peers in the region to kick their systems into action on adoption of biotech.
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For those who care for the environment, their health, this should worry them: According to a study by the Birdlife International on threatened species, six of Africa’s 11 vulture species—the continent’s largest and most recognisable birds of prey—are now at a higher risk of extinction because of indiscriminate poisoning, where the birds are drawn to poisoned baits, use of vulture body parts in traditional medicine, and deliberate targeting by poachers, as the presence of vultures can alert authorities to illegally killed big game carcasses.
I know many may ask why they should care, but Dr Julius Arinaitwe, BirdLife International’s Africa Programme director, has the answer: “As well as robbing the African skies of one of their most iconic and spectacular groups of birds, the rapid decline of the continent’s vultures has profound consequences for its people – as vultures help stop the spread of diseases by cleaning up rotting carcasses.”
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