“When
you chew Khat, you are on the top of the planet, but after you spit it out, the
planet is on the top of you” – A Somali saying.
When Somalia recently made a surprise decision to ban the
importation of Kenya originated Khat (Catha edulis), a herbal stimulant with amphetamine-like
characteristics that Somalis consume as a national pass time, it caused quite a
stir both inside and outside the country.
With an estimated 20
million users in the Horn of Africa alone, and a growing and lucrative
business produced by the 500,000
farmers across the Horn of Africa and Arabian peninsula, khat is a multimillion
business for producers from Kenya and Ethiopia and a heavy economic burden to Somalia,
the biggest consumer in the region.
According to official figures, more than 15 cargo flights
of khat arrive in Somalia’s capital, Mogadishu, daily from Kenya, brining in
about 12,000 bags of the stimulant with a total value of US$400,000.
Somaliland, the breakaway northern region which recently
came to prominence by granting DP World a 30-year
deal to invest and manage its Red
Sea Port of Berbera, spends $524
million a year or about 30 percent of its domestic product on khat
from Ethiopia, while the neighboring Republic of Djibouti spends $170
million, or 30 percent of household in come, on Khat from Ethiopia.
No wonder that Kenya was alarmed by the ban as expressed
by Dave Muthuri, Chairman of Kenya Miraa Farmers and Traders Association, who
said Khat cargo with an estimated value of 60 million Kenyan shillings
(US$592,000) was lost on the first day of the Mogadishu ban.
Socioecomomic impacts of Khat
Apart from losing millions of hard cash everyday to buy
Khat, Khat has harmful health effects while the World Health Organization
considers it to be “seriously
addictive drug”. In addition to health risks, Khat also drains household
budget as men spend a great percentage of the family income on the drug at the
expense of children’s food, healthcare and schooling. It is also blamed for destroying
family bonds by increasing domestic violence and divorce rate.
"The problem comes down to the man not being part of
the family and the woman being left to do everything," said Fatima Saeed,
a Somaliland politician and a British citizen, talking to Al Jazeera when UK banned Khat in 2014.
"Khat would arrive at 5pm on the plane and by 6pm
men had left homes and wouldn't return until 6am," Saeed said. "After
the ban it was like people woke up from a deep sleep. They started looking for
jobs, being part of the family."
Why the ban now?
The debate on the devastating economic, health and social
impact of Khat in Somalia is as old as Khat itself which studies
say predates the use of coffee. There were attempts before to ban the khat but
they all failed. The British colonial administration restricted the importation
of Khat in British Somaliland
Protectorate in 1921 and in Kenya in 1940, but both times the ban only led
to Khat becoming more lucrative in black market and its use being associated
with rebelling against British oppression. The French administration in
Djibouti also tried to curb Khat imports and consumption in 1952 only to find the
consumption tripled in three years. In Yemen, the British administration’s ban
on Khat in 1957 led to public outrage in Aden and also Ethiopia, the export
country, while an attempt to ban Khat in South Yemen after independence is
assumedly to have led to the government’s downfall in 1972, According to Khat
in the Western Indian Oceanwritten by Neil Carrier and Lisa Gezon.
Post-independence Somalia also banned Khat in 1983 with the government
citing the damaging impact of Khat on the national economy and social fabric.
The ban led to widespread resentment in northern Somalia towards Mogadishu
government while government supporters were allegedly allowed to profit from
smuggling the Khat.
It is against this background that President Hassan
Sheikh Mahmoud’s decision to ban the importation of Khat from Kenya was seen as
a bold and surprising move. Anti-Khat activists have been urging the government
to ban Khat and the government has shown its willingness to impose a ban.
“Somalia continues to lose a huge amount of hard cash to
purchase khat from Kenya, which only creates an economic source for another
country.” President
Mohamud told reporters in May.
“The Khat business also continues to undermine our country’s post-war economic
recovery, and that’s why every economy conscious person wants to deny Kenya
from making money from Somalia just because it exports those leaves with health
and humanitarian side-effects to our country.” He said.
However, the sudden decision was seen as a retaliatory
action by the Somali government vis-à-vis Keneya’s decision to repatriate
thousands of Somali refugees living in Dadaab Refugee Camp as well as what many
Somalis say was a continued and arbitrary arrest, harassment, extortion,
ill-treatment, forcible relocation and expulsion of Somali residents in
Nairobi’s Eastleigh
neighborhood.
Kenya and Somalia are also involved in a maritime border
dispute over an oil and gas rich area. The dispute went to the International
Court of Justice which heard the arguments of both sides on September 19-23 as Kenya
failed to convince Somalia to withdraw the case for local bilateral resolution.
Kenyan media, however, attributed the ban to a visit of a
Kenyan politician to the self-declared republic of Somaliland. According to
Kenya’s Daily Nation, “Somalia imposed the ban because of Peter Munya, the
governor of the Kenyan county of Meru, which grows most of the khat, had
visited Somaliland in July to see if he could arrange a trade deal for khat
exporters in Kenya – in exchange for some form of recognition for the
autonomous region.”
Somali Ambassador to Kenya, Gamal Hassan, also affirmed
this by explaining that the Kenyan politician’s visit to Hargeisa, Somaliland’s
capital, in July had outraged the Mogadishu government.
Lifting the ban
Just a few days after its surprise decision, Somalia
lifted the ban following a meeting between President Mahmoud and his Kenyan
counterpart, Uhuru Kenyatta, on the sidelines of the leaders’ Summit of the Intergovernmental
Authority on Development (IGAD) held for the first time in 30 years in
Mogadishu.
This came after the IGAD
Communiqué “reaffirmed its respect for the sovereignty, territorial
integrity, political independence, and unity of Somalia.” This was a major
concern for Somalia over the years and gives great relief to Somali people. The
communiqué also “encouraged the voluntary return of all Somali,” while also
underlining their commitment to “collectively address refugee situation in the
region, as well as convene a special summit on durable solutions and effective
reintegration of returnees in the country.”
Kenya also agreed to review the procedure of starting
direct flights from Mogadishu to Nairobi without transiting a stopover in Wajir
Airport in northeast Kenya, a measure Somalia viewed as underscoring Kenya’s
attitude of considering flights from Somalia as a security risk. Another win
for Somalia was Kenya’s promise to ease visa restrictions on Somali citizens
and access of Somali banking, finance industry into Kenyan market and vice
versa.
Although Kenya seems to have secured back its lucrative
business that replaced coffee production as a major cash earner, the ban proved
that Somalia can use its huge trade deficit with Kenya as a bargaining chip
only as far as the Somali people remain in Mirqaan (blissed out) the
leaves they call “Qoot Al Awliya” or Food for the Pious, and which they
assume has the power of : “enlivening the imagination, clearing the ideas,
cheering the heart, diminishing sleep, and taking the place of food,” according
to Richard Burton.