BY SAM ALFAN.
Rastafarians have moved to court seeking to legalise the use of bhang for medicinal and religious use.
In a petition before the High Court, the group under Ras Tafari Society of Kenya (RSK) want the court to temporarily suspend section 3 (1)(2)(a) of the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances (Control) Act No.4 OF 1994, Laws of Kenya.
RSK and Mwendwa Wambua alias Ras prophet wants the court to stop arresting and prosecuting its members who grow and use cannabis sativa for spiritual and private growth in their private homes or designated places of worship such as Rasta Tabernacles and Mansions.
Through lawyer Shadrack Wambui, the society argued that the insensitivity and unconstitutionality of the law is further demonstrated by its intolerance to the private use of cannabis by persons professing the Rastafari faith.
They added that the police continue to harass, intimidate, arrest and cause the prosecution, persecution and even imprisonment of its members yet they use it for spiritual purposes and for the sole purpose of connecting with the Almighty Creator.
“The members of Ras Tafari Society of Kenya (RSK) are hitherto forced to live in fear as a minority religious group in Kenya as the current legislative framework is inimical to their religious practices as it fails to reasonably accommodate the Rastafari use of marijuana as a manifestation of their faith and for their connectedness with the Almighty Creator,” the petition reads.
They added, “The impugned law which was enacted in the year 1994 is hostile and intolerant to persons professing the Rastafari faith yet we are in a new constitutional framework following the promulgation of the constitution of Kenya 2010 that is progressive and accommodative of diversity and protective of the marginalized group who include members of the Ras Tafari Society of Kenya(RSK) and Mwendwa Wambua alias ras prophet.”
They want the court to temporarily suspend the law, pending the determination of the case.
It is their argument that the petition raises substantial questions of constitutional law and the matter should be referred to the Chief Justice for appointment of a bench of an uneven number of judges, to determine the case.
They argue that their members profess the Rastafari Faith that require the spiritual growing and use of cannabis sativa, marijuana, bhang, ndom, vela, kushungpeng and by whichever name referred, which is used as a sacrament and for the connection of Rasta and his creator.
“The use of cannabis especially amongst the members of Ras Tafari Society of Kenya(RSK) and so is any other person professing the Rastafari faith is outlawed by dint of the said section thus criminalizing the rastas spiritual use of cannabis yet the manifestation of their religion enjoys constitutional protection,” they claim.
