Toyota land cruiser transporting Meru green gold from Meru to Nairobi.
BY SAM ALFAN.
A ‘boat’ formed to look into strategies of improving miraa sale has started leaking.
This is after some disgruntled Khat farmers and traders rushed to court to block the public funding and swearing in of officials of the newly formed Miraa taskforce- intended to oversee the Miraa business activities.
Activist Japheth Mboroko and five other traders say that real Miraa traders and farmers are not represented in the taskforce and that the said taskforce has been formed contrary to an initial court order of April 26 2016.
They say that the members set to sit in the taskforce are not farmers and that their appointment and gazettement of June 17 2016 is unconstitutional. They are due to be sworn in.
They further claim that some appointees especially the vice chairperson of the taskforce who is the chairperson of Kenya Miraa farmers and trade association (KEMIFATA) and another member have integrity issues as they have never accounted for funds raised by mirraa stakeholders to file a case in the UK hence can’t be trusted anymore to hold the public office.
The petitioners also contend that there is a conflict of interest in the taskforce as a lawyer who had initially represented them has since been appointed into the taskforce.
They therefore want the court to halt swearing in process to quash the gazette notice of the said taskforce and order appointment of relevant officials after consultations with real Miraa stakeholders.
The matter has been certified urgent and will be heard on 6th July.