MIRAA HISTORY IN MERU AND ITS LEGISLATION IN KENYA: MIRAA HISTORY IN KENYA

GICHUNGE WA M'THIRUA AND JOEL KIREMALong ago in Egypt, when people went to their farms in the community, they were assigned the amount of work to be accomplished by one within one day by the size of Ibuuti or steps to be cultivated in one day in order to be justified for payment as self-assurance. Ameru were gatherers and serious farmers in Egypt. Thus, when they left Egypt under pressure and in unfriendly circumstances, they carried with them various crops, plants and animals on their long and epic journey to Mboa (Manda Island Kenya). Among the crops and plants that they brought from Egypt was Miraa (Khat in Arabic language). Khat is grown in many Arabic nations and no one can dispute the fact that Miraa (Khat) is a native plant from Egypt, having been discovered by Ameru there while it later spread to Arabic countries like Yemen and Arabia. While Ameru meandered in the wilderness through Egypt, Sudan, Uganda, Congo, Rwanda and Tanzania to Kenya, they were sustained by that plant which subsides thirst and hunger for several days. Miraa is not a drug, but it is a “sacred food crop” designed by God to subside hunger and thirst in times of food shortages; it is a “natural raw chewing gum” meant to stimulate saliva from the mouth of a person faced with thirst. The plant is a blessing to the people, not in disguise, but to their frontage. Readers are engaged to note that, all along Ameru managed to carry Miraa with them through very harsh and unfavorable conditions because it was a dependable and reliable plant that enabled them to conquer vagaries of weather and climates wherever they passed through in their long and epic journeys. They passed through Ethiopia where they left seedlings to the Ethiopians who passed the same to the Djiboutians who told grow Miraa for their consumption as they import more from Ethiopia. Look at the World Map, Kenya, Ethiopia and Djibouti are total neighboring countries that grow Miraa and both regard the crop as dependable in their countries. Yemen and Arabia are also distant neighbor