CS Kagwe: Biosafety Authority and Kephis cannot be merged

Agriculture Cabinet Secretary Mutahi Kagwe has now said that the National Bio-Safety Authority (NBA) cannot be merged with Kenya Plant Health Inspectorate Service (Kephis) as initially proposed.

Kagwe argued that the two entities cannot be merged owing to the international obligations that the country has.

“There are some institutions of course that we have also realised cannot be merged at all and a good example is Kephis and NBA. Those two cannot be merged because of international obligations that the country has,” he explained.

The CS, however, said that they are exploring other proposed areas as some institutions by their very nature will stay separate.

“Sometimes it is not necessarily merging organisations but putting together some sort of structures where services can be accessed at the same time and together so that even if they are different organisations and mandates one can be able to reach them quickly,” he said.

“That eases life for farmers and time spent by business people trying to establish themselves, that is the purpose of these mergers and also create efficiency. So where possible we will merge them but obviously we have got to keep alive the ideals we are obligated to do,” he added.

Kephis is mandated to ensure quality agricultural inputs and produce to prevent adverse impacts on the economy, the environment, and human health.

NBA, on the other hand, is mandated to ensure safety of human and animal health and provide adequate protection of the environment from harmful effects that may result from GMOs.

According to a joint position paper on merger of NBA and Kephis, Kenya has signed and ratified international Treaties and Conventions that oblige the country to establish appropriate legal and institutional frameworks to implement biosafety, plant health and seed quality assurance.

The two entities have also explained that Kenya signed Cartagena Protocol on Biosafety to the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) in 2000 and ratified it in 2003.This is an international agreement which aims to ensure the regulation of GMOs to ensure their safety to humans, animals and environment.

On the other hand, Kephis was established based on the need for the country to meet its obligations under the International Plant Protection Convention (IPPC), Union for the Protection of New Plant Varieties (UPOV), Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) while also meeting the international standards for seed trade under the International Seed Testing Association (ISTA).

“Since Kenya remains a signatory to the conventions and protocols, it is obliged to domesticate them. Due to the distinct nature and scope of the International Conventions and Treaties, the Government of Kenya based on best global practice established the two separate institutions to ensure their strategic effectiveness and efficiency in the implementation of the instruments,” the two organisations have argued.

They have also cited potential conflict of interest explaining that when it comes to GM plants, NBA is expected to first assure the safety of the technology before it is integrated into plant varieties and released for commercialization by Kephis.

“The safety assessment component of the GM technology is handled by NBA, while the plant variety performance assessment is handled by Kephis. The two processes are distinct and require institutional separation as a safeguard and quality control of the process and to gain public trust,” they stated.

They also said that a segment of the Kenyan population prefers conventional seed and would trust a distinct and clear system that differentiates between GMO safety assessment undertaken by NBA and seed quality assurance undertaken by Kephis.

In a meeting held at State Lodge Kakamega on January 21, 2025, the Cabinet approved a series of recommendations in line with streamlining government operations, reducing waste and curbing excesses in reforming State Corporations.

The reforms included merging 42 State Corporations with overlapping or related mandates into 20 entities to improve operational efficiency and eliminate redundancy.

Nine State Corporations are to be dissolved, with their functions transferred to relevant ministries or other State entities, while 16 corporations with outdated functions that can be provided by the private sector are to be divested or dissolved.

Six other State Corporations were proposed to undergo restructuring to better align their mandates and enhance performance while four public funds currently classified as State Corporations would be declassified and returned to the relevant ministries with a strengthened governance framework.

All professional organisations currently categorized as State Corporations are also to be declassified and will no longer receive government budgetary allocations.