Ruto jumped the gun on the biotech food issue that is too controversial worldwide

Deputy President William Ruto has a penchant for courting controversy. He did so last November when he claimed without an iota of evidence that Kenyan security forces had killed 100 Al Shabaab militants to avenge the Mandera bus killings involving nearly 30 Kenyans, mostly teachers.

He was at it again in January when he brazenly denied any association with the Lang'ata Road Primary School land dispute that left pupils tear-gassed as they protested the grabbing of land by a hotel linked to him. In June, he made an about-turn, saying, he has interests in Weston Hotel, after all.

Last week, the DP waded into yet another controversy when he announced that the ban on growing genetically modified crops is to be lifted in a month or two “after the Cabinet makes a final decision” (writer’s emphasis).

The statement has grabbed media attention with arguments for and against the anticipated commercialisation of the modified crops.

Mr Ruto’s spoke after “interested parties and persons” were given until August 23 to submit written comments or concerns on a Kenya Agricultural and Livestock Research Organisation application to start growing genetically modified crops in open fields.

That Mr Ruto made such an announcement so unequivocally paints the regulator — the National Biosafety Authority — in a bad light since it means the decision is a fait accompli.

Not only that; Mr Ruto’s statement makes a mockery of Kenyans. It implies that the outcome of the biosafety authority’s solicited comments is a mere formality and biotech crops are with us mpende msipende (like it or not), as the Baba na Mama party, Kanu, was wont to say in its heyday.

What Mr Ruto said undermines the Cabinet’s authority, making it a mere rubber-stamp of behind-the-scenes deals. What "final decision" when the DP has a time frame for the lifting of the ban?

If the statement was meant to test the waters on just how deeply Kenyans felt about the crops, it was the wrong way for Mr Ruto to handle a matter of such great policy import.

Lobbyists argue that the modified crops are the answer to Kenya’s chronic food insecurity. Nothing could be further from the truth, and especially after leading newspapers took on the mandate of popularising cheap ways of raising crop yields even in confined urban spaces.

If the lobby backing biotech foods took time to read the Seeds of Gold magazine, for instance, they would realise that our hunger has little to do with not having the crops and everything to do with our poverty of mind.

Our empty food stores and starving masses are symptomatic of a Ministry of Agriculture that will neither wrack its head nor employ its vast resources to popularise amazing, yet simple, environment-friendly technologies within reach of most Kenyans.

Therefore, masses of youths abandon hectares of land in the countryside searching for elusive white-collar jobs when their smarter counterparts are raking in fortunes from quarter-acre, even less, plots.

Sadly, Kenyans cannot even count on their elected representatives to guide debate on the modified crops since it is on record that most of the laws they make are products of sponsorship by vested interests rather than public good. Theirs is the biblical sale of our collective birthright for a bowl of soup.

It is dishonest to tell Kenyans that the biotechnology maize Kalro is raring to release is the panacea for chronic hunger. Bt maize is already being challenged in court in South Africa. A leading NGO, The African Centre for Biodiversity, went to court on August 7 to appeal the Agriculture, Water Affairs and Forestry ministry’s release of such maize.

It is funded by seed multinational Monsanto and The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, is also being implemented in Kenya, Uganda and Tanzania. It purports to offer the drought-tolerant maize to smallholder farmers in Africa as a “climate smart” solution.

What Kalro won’t tell farmers is that once introductory subsidies and credit dry up, they will not afford the expensive seed and synthetic fertilisers and pesticides. Therefore, every effort must be made to halt the pro-biotech foods lobby in its tracks.

Ms Kweyu is a freelance journalist and consulting editor. ([email protected])