In December 2024, President William Ruto announced the national livestock vaccination program, aiming to vaccinate 22 million cattle and 50 million sheep and goats. Barely six months into its introduction, the program has already stalled.
Speaking during the Kenya Veterinary Association Conference in Naivasha on Monday, Kenya Veterinary Paraprofessional Association (KVPA) Chairman John Ngigi revealed that the project had stalled due to a lack of funding.
"We understand that the exercise was called off due to a lack of money, and this will have significant repercussions on livestock production in the coming months," Ngigi said.
The project was aimed at protecting livestock across the country against diseases like Foot and Mouth Disease (FMD) and Peste des Petits Ruminants (PPR).
According to Ngige, the Kenya Veterinary Vaccines Production Institute (Kevevapi) was ready to produce vaccines for the project. However, the plan was shelved owing to financial constraints.
The program had been designed to boost animal health, secure export markets, and combat transboundary diseases.
The plan elicited a lot of controversy. While some leaders supported it, others rejected the drive claiming it would endanger the lives of Kenyans.
Leaders, including Wiper's Kalonzo Musyoka, other leaders, and Kenyans read menace in the drive, citing a plan to advance foreign interests by allowing international research institutions to test vaccines on Kenyan livestock.
“Ruto is advancing a sinister foreign agenda. This plan is reckless and must be stopped,” Kalonzo said, urging Kenyans to resist the initiative.
Defending the project, the government assured Kenyans that the vaccines were safe and there were no ulterior motives to the project, but just to expand Kenya's export market for livestock.
"The vaccination program will rely on locally manufactured vaccines from the Veterinary Board of Kenya and Veterinary Vaccines Production Institute (KEVEVAPI), a state corporation under the Ministry of Agriculture and Livestock Development," the then Agriculture CS, Andrew Karanja, assured.
The government initially planned to fund the program, but later announced that farmers would need to cover the costs themselves.
The total estimated cost of the program was Ksh3.95 billion. Farmers were expected to repay the government once they sold their livestock, with vaccine prices set at Ksh35 for PPR and Ksh100 for Foot and Mouth Disease.
