A staunch supporter of Roots Party presidential candidate, George Luchiri Wajackoyah, was arraigned in court for smoking bhang during campaigns.
The man - identified as Boniface Mutua - admitted before Eldoret Senior Resident Magistrate, Christine Menya, that he was guilty of the offence.
Mutua told the court that he smokes marijuana so that he can get the courage to campaign for Wajackoyah and the Roots Party.
“For now, I smoke bhang to gain courage and voluntarily campaign for Wajackoyah, who has promised to legalise the cultivation and smoking of bhang.
“Who knows, I might be among the commercial farmers of bhang if my candidate is elected President and legalises marijuana," he stated amid laughter from the court attendants.
Court documents showed that Mutua was arrested on July 11 at Bahati estate in Ainabkoi sub-county, Uasin Gishu county, and officers found him with three rolls of the banned substance with a street value of Ksh90.
The court urged him to stop consuming the illegal drug until his candidate is elected and perhaps changes the law to legalise it.
“You will be sentenced after your own plea of guilty since for now, it is illegal to trade and use bhang without a prescription from a doctor,” the Senior Resident Magistrate informed him.
The sentencing will take place on July 27 at the same court.
Wajackoyah has proposed to legalize the cultivation of marijuana for export to countries where the substance is legally sold for medical consumption.
Speaking at KICC on Thursday, June 30, Wajackoyah detailed how he planned to clear the country's debt using proceeds from marijuana and emphasised that his calls for its legalisation were of economic benefit to the country.
For instance, the professor of law stated that the cultivation of marijuana in Nyeri county alone would raise money to build two expressways in each of the 47 counties.
"One acre of marijuana can earn you Ksh8 million per harvest. The whole of Nyeri county is 583,000 acres. This means that if we grew marijuana in Nyeri county, Nyeri residents will earn Ksh4.6 trillion per harvest.
"If we can grow marijuana in Nyeri alone, each Kenyan could get a dividend cheque of Ksh200,000 every year from the sale of marijuana," Wajackoyah stated.
