Prof George Wajackoya has left Kenyans dizzy, no high, with excitement. He has united the nation. Politicians pretending to burn the midnight oil using taxpayers’ billions to craft complex strategies for building national unity should borrow a leaf from Wajackoya.
The Roots Party presidential candidate has promised to decriminalise cannabis (also known as bhang, marijuana or weed). His running mate Justina Wamae sensationally announced she would publicly smoke weed at their inauguration, if they win the election.
Sasa watu hawalali. Everywhere you turn in Kenya, Wajackoya is the talk. He is all over social and mainstream media. Some of the chattering classes in town have attempted to put a spin of sophistication to his wildfire popularity, saying the politician’s quirky proposals show the “power of disruptive thinking”.
Ahem, every Kenyan election produces a media sensation, a sort of comic relief from the nerve-racking battles of the leading candidates and a therapy for the crippling fears of poll-related violence.
See, a young man last Friday swore he would take his own life if his favourite presidential candidate doesn’t win. So, you need Wajackoya and his weed story to put off such deadly inner turmoil.
Oddballs in public life thrill, particularly in this age of ubiquitous social media and memes. It partly indicates the cynicism with which many people treat politics. The blitzkrieg of recycled promises we are bombarded with is only as good as the fidelity of a Koinange Street bimbo. Nothing is going to change after August 9, really, so we might as well have a good laugh, isn’t it?
We have had Mwalimu Dida and PK before, presidential also-rans with a water drop’s chance in hell of winning the House on the Hill. They gave the nation a good laugh in the face of the tragedy our politics has become.
But there is a problem, a serious one. Prof George Wajackoya – the man with 16 university degrees, a former street urchin, former sleuth and mortuary attendant, and whatever else – is now the poster boy for marijuana. His candidature has sparked a nationwide fascination with the narcotic drug. Media content featuring Wajackoya with the ‘weed’ has hit saturation levels.
But cannabis is illegal in Kenya. And that is the problem. The media cannot ethically promote – directly or indirectly – an illegal substance. Media upholds and defends the rule of law.
A debate about decriminalising weed is legitimate and has been going on long before Wajackoya declared he wants to be the president. But the weed narrative around the Roots guy is not a sober debate about decriminalising marijuana for medicinal and other purposes. It is mindless promotion of an illegal narcotic.
It can be argued the media coverage of Wajackoya has significantly defeated the efforts to fight against cannabis. Even children who did not know the drug now do and might be eager to try it. After all, a successful public figure, a professor with 16 degrees, has endorsed it.
Yet the National Authority for the Campaign Against Alcohol and Drug Abuse (Nacada) is silent.
The Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances (Control) Act lists cannabis as a drug. Anyone found guilty of possession of cannabis “intended solely for his own consumption” will be jailed for 10 years, or 20 years “in every other case”.
Trafficking in cannabis attracts a fine of Sh1 million, or three times the value of the drug, and imprisonment for life.
A person who smokes, inhales, sniffs or otherwise uses any narcotic drug or psychotropic substance, or is found in a place or with any item connected with use of such substances, faces a jail term of 10 years.
Nacada classifies cannabis as the most abused narcotic drug in Kenya. The government rejects decriminalisation of bhang due to its documented health risks and potential for abuse.
News reporting of Prof Wajackoya and his weed campaign must be cautious. It should come with the rider that bhang is illegal in Kenya. It is irresponsible journalism to carry wall-to-wall coverage of a politician promoting an illegal substance without providing the necessary warnings.
See you next week!
