Agano Party’s Presidential candidate David Waihiga Mwaure has given his reasons against the legalisation of marijuana.
Mwaure who was speaking during the presidential debate held at the Catholic University of East and Central Africa (CUEA) was scheduled to face off with his counterpart, Root’s party’s George Wajackoyah who skipped the debate.
In his manifesto, Wajackoyah has promised to legalise the drug if elected president after the August 9 polls.
However, in his statement during the Tuesday, July 26 debate, Mwaure said that the mental health of Kenyans is a key concern and the main reason why he is against the legalisation of the drug.
We can’t ignore that mental health is here with us. It is with our brothers it is with our sister. It is here with people close to us. That is why I am against the suggestion to legalise bhang,” Mwaure said.
The Agano Party leader further revealed that he has had persons close to him who have suffered from mental related illness.
“I personally have had people close to me who have suffered from mental illness. We need to start tackling that. We need to tackle that,” Mwaure said.
In his presentation to Kenyans on what the Agano Party will affect if elected to lead the country, Mwaure said that he has a detailed plan in his manifesto to ensure the nation is healthy.
“In our hospitals, this is something we will give a lot of attention to. Number one, we will trace mental illness from as early as Primary school or Secondary because one of the problems we have is ignoring that mental illness is real and it exists,” Mwaure said.
Mwaure further said that he will make sure Kenyans have access to psychological counsellors to ensure that they are catered for when it comes to mental illness.
“We need to come up with places that the government has oversight over, right now I’m not sure if the government has oversight over rehabilitation,” Mwaure said in reference to who oversights rehabilitation centres for mentally ill Kenyans.
In his manifesto, Mwaure promised to give priority to the health sector adding that he will make sure there are atleast five Level-5 Hospitals in each county that will have a mental health department.
