, a Molo Member of Parliament, has criticized Azimio la Umoja leader Raila Odinga for his present stance against the usage of Genetically Modified Organisms (GMOs) in the country.
This comes after Odinga said on Sunday that the implementation of GMOs will have serious consequences for the country’s agriculture, accusing President William Ruto of being held captive by western powers and behaving as their “puppet.”
“We believe that lifting the ban on GMO foods and allowing their entry is a betrayal of our country.” The Ruto administration is not working for Kenya in this regard, according to Mr Odinga.
“He is acting like a puppet, working for foreign governments and their big corporations against our national interests.” He is attempting to promote foreign biotechnology institutions in other countries,” he added.
Kimani alleged on Citizen TV’s DayBreak broadcast on Monday that Odinga has been guilty of doublespeak because he formerly backed the use of GMOs in Kenya while serving as Prime Minister.
Kuria chastised the opposition leader for his sudden change of heart, adding that most of the time he opposes things without a specific reason.
“One of my issues with Raila is that he frequently opposes things just for the purpose of opposing them. I say this because Raila supported GMOs on the floor of the National Assembly on August 3, and a lot has happened in terms of technology and public understanding regarding health and scientific research since then “He stated.
According to a local daily, Odinga had aggressively advocated the adoption of GMOs in Kenya when serving as Prime Minister in Mwai Kibaki’s administration, asking opposition MPs, led by then-Naivasha MP John Mututho, to “embrace science” and its developments.
“Developed nations with stringent safety and testing standards, such as the United States, Canada, Argentina, and many countries in the European Union, have embraced genetic engineering of food crops to improve food yields and develop pest-resistant crop varieties,” Raila said before the National Assembly.
However, later in his Sunday statement, he dared the government to provide Kenyans with the scientific papers on which they are relying to authorize GMO ingestion, stating that research have proven GMOs unsafe for consumption.
“So yet, no scientific study has conclusively proven that GMOs are safe for human consumption and the environment. We challenge the government to share with Kenyans the scientific study on which it is basing its decision to declare GMO maize safe for human consumption and the environment “He stated.
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