Players call for rejection of proposed bi*l on foods
Charles Lwanga
Veterinary practitioners have appealed to lawmakers to shoot down the Kenya Food and Drugs Authority Bill, 2019.
Players drawn from Kenya Veterinary Association, Union of Veterinary Practitioners, Directorate of Veterinary Services and institutions of higher education say the bill does not mean good for the sector since they were not consulted during its formulation.
Addressing a press at the end of a two-day conference of veterinary practitioners in Malindi, Kilifi county, Kenya Veterinary Association, Chairman Dr Nicholas Muyale claimed key stakeholders were not consulted and therefore they read mischief with its contents.
“Food safety is a preserve of veterinary surgeons and public health officers, therefore pharmacists pretending to be experts in food safety are a joke which we won’t accept as veterinarians,” he said.
He said Kenya is party to World Organisation for Animal Health, formerly known as the Office International des Epizooties (OIE) and there are rules demand the veterinary medicine be under the custody of compelling authority which is the Directorate of Veterinary Services.
First reading
The Kenya Food and Drugs Authority Bill, 2019 sponsored by Endebess MP Robert Pukose passed the First Reading in Parliament in May 2019 before it was suspended to allow further consultation following reports that Bill shall collapse roles of some institutions within the ministries of Health, Agriculture, and Trade.
The Bill is currently before the National Assembly for second reading.
Prof James Mbaria, the University of Nairobi chairman of the Department of Public Health, Pharmacology and Toxicology, who doubles up as council member of Kenya Veterinary Directorate said veterinary medicines should be regulated by competent authorities to ensure food safety in the country.
“The purpose of the veterinary medicine directorate is to regulate the importation, its mandate is to ensure the food we eat does not have medicine residue,” he said.
He added “What is critical is that some of these drugs used on animals such as the antibiotics to treat microbial diseases must be used under prescription and therefore must be regulated by somebody who understands its use and how it works.”
Dr Benson Kibore, the chairman of Union of Veterinary Practitioners Kenya (UVPK) said you cannot be able to monitor drugs which you do not have expertise on because the situation might lead to veterinary drugs sold in pharmacies or hardware for lack of control.
Kibore warned that the bill risk leaving the country at a desperate situation in case of a pandemic arguing that the country is able to fight the spread of Covid-19 pandemic due to established mechanism in the control of veterinary drugs all the way from export, manufacture to use which the Bill seeks to abolish.
“You can imagine a pandemic like Covid-19 never came from human beings but animals, we are told next pandemic will be coming from animals and If we are not careful on what we use on animals it will be disastrous,” he said adding “this is a warning. Through this Bill, it will not be business as usual since the next pandemic will be severer than Covid-19.”
On his part, Dr Charles Ochodo, a veterinary surgeon from the Directorate of Veterinary Services appealed to the members of parliament to reject the Bill without giving it a second thought in order to ensure food safety and protect all Kenyans from eating contaminated animal products.
Meanwhile, UVPK has moved to High Court to compel governors implement veterinary services as part of County public health in effort aimed at ensuring veterinarians receive better remunerations and facilitation like their medical doctors counterparts.
