Britain will not lift Miraa ban, says envoy

By Marie Yambo/KNA

The British High Commissioner to Kenya, Nic Hailey, has said his government is unlikely to reverse the Miraa ban.

Speaking when he paid a courtesy call on Meru County commissioner, Wilfred Nyagwanga, and the Deputy Governor, Raphael Muriungi, the British High Commissioner said the law banning the stimulant crop in the UK was passed by Parliament and would stay.

He said his government was waiting for a report on the crop from a taskforce appointed by President Uhuru Kenyatta, after which it will initiate means of assisting miraa farmers to seek alternative markets.

Hailey was in the Meru region to launch an electric fence around the Imenti forest, to ward off elephants.