Endebess MP Robert Pukose has been accused of sponsoring the Kenya Food and Drug Authority Bill.
According to stakeholders, the bill proposes the disbandment of Kenya Pharmacy and Poisons Board (KPPB) and other related licensing agencies which regulate food and medical drugs business in the Country.
The bill also proposes that the regulation of food and medicines be merged and controlled by a single body in order to do away with duplication.
The bill is at the committee stage in Parliament.
Stakeholders have argued that the lives of Kenyans will be at risk if it’s passed and implemented.
“The bill will repeal CAP 254 of the Food, Drug and Chemical Substances Act but does not offer any guideline on how or who will pick up the medical examination of food handlers and licensing of food premises and markets designed to reduce public health risks,” the stakeholders said in a joint statement.
The stake holders include the Pharmaceutical Society of Kenya, United Nations Industrial Development Organisation (UNIDO), the Fresh Produce Consortium of Kenya (FPCK), Association of Public Health Officers of Kenya (APHOK), Kenya Health Professionals Society, and Kenya Livestock Marketing Council (KLMC).
The Agricultural Information Network (AIN), the Kenya Veterinary Association (KVA) and the Federation of Kenya Pharmaceutical Manufacturers (FKPM) have also joined the growing alliance of stakeholders opposed to the Bill, as have the Livestock Council and other bodies.
The officials claim that, the control of communicable diseases transmitted due to poor sanitation and contaminated food and water, such as cholera, diarrhea, dysentery, typhoid, bilharzia and salmonella will be greatly uncontrollable.
The bill also includes the regulation of tobacco by the same KFDA body, yet stakeholders argue that tobacco and tobacco products are narcotics and globally and scientifically, they are not classified as health products.
They are also concerned that the bill requires zero medical and food specialists’ qualifications for the Authority Board and does not explicitly outline the expertise requirements for board members.
“Food safety requires experts who have mastered the risks posed by food hazards and understand the requirements necessary to manage them across the entire food chain,” said Andrew Edewa, a food safety specialist at UNIDO.
In defense of his bill, Pukose argues that the KFDA bill will address the multiple laws and agencies involved in licensing health technologies and lessen the time it takes to introduce a medical product into the market and scale it up.