Mutahi Kagwe’s stance over livestock vaccination
The nominee for Cabinet Secretary of Agriculture and Livestock Development, Mutahi Kagwe faced the parliamentary committee of the National Assembly for the better part of Tuesday mid-morning for his vetting.
Kagwe is set to occupy the ministry at a time when the country has witnessed disapproval from majority of Kenyans and a surge to a contended conversation regarding livestock vaccination, ignited by President Ruto.
In his response to a question posed concerning livestock vaccination stalemate, the CS nominee assured Kenyans that the government through the Ministry will not use forceful means and coercion to vaccinate their livestock.
“The cow belongs to an individual. The matter is simple. If you have a goat, do you want it to be vaccinated? If you say yes, we vaccinate if you say no we don’t,” he said.
Kikuyu Member of Parliament Hon Kimani Ichungwa, while contributing to the discussion, mentioned that the hindrance to a successful livestock vaccination process has been “misinformation and communication”. However, kagwe, said that he will resort to bringing all the stakeholders involved on board to ensure a healthy and a progressive approach.
“It is not possible to make progress unless we work together with the stakeholders. We must have a consultative approach to these things. These cows belong to individuals, not the government.” He added that he will incorporate the use of media to disseminate information to the farming communities.
He observed that there was urgent need to not only address food security but also livestock security since without the latter, the chances of human survival are minimal. He suggested facilitation of warehouses to store food for livestock as a mitigation measure backed by the counties and national governments before the onset of the dry seasons. “Even as we talk about food security for human beings, we also have to talk about food security for livestock,” he added.
On the issue of GMO, the former Nyeri Senator affirmed that the government will only allow foreign countries to bring into Kenya, GMOs that have undergone mandatory medical approval. He maintained that he will not allow other countries to use Kenya as a subject for experiment.
To Kagwe, GMOs developed by Kenyan scientists were to be given first priority.
As a protocol during the vetting processes of CS nominees, Kagwe mentioned his net worth to be around Ksh. 842M, wealth which is in real estate and pieces of land accumulated over the years.
He is in line to replace Dr. Andrew Karanja who was appointed after the wave of Gen Z protests that pressured President Ruto to fire his entire Cabinet in June of last year. However, Dr. Karanja faced the axe in the recent Cabinet reshuffle and got a nomination to serve as Kenya’s Ambassador to Brazil.
Kagwe, who served in President Uhuru’s government as Cabinet Secretary for Health, was nominated by President Ruto on 19th December of last year in what Ruto termed as bid to achieve inclusivity in the Kenya Kwanza government and also improve service delivery under the Bottom-Up Economic Transformation Agenda (BETA).
