In July, Africa’s richest man, Aliko Dangote, brought traction to the conversation when he revealed that the continent was becoming a dumping ground for inferior fuel.
Very recently, Gilbert C. Njoroge, a Kenyan High Court Advocate, shed more light on the subject, revealing that European markets have been selling pesticides that they consider unusable.
He noted that such transactions do not have “regard for human life in Africa,” as the pesticides in question have been deemed unfit for use.
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During the International No Pesticide Use Day, the Kenyan advocate spoke to Sputnik, as he called out Western companies for such unethical business practices.
“Some of those chemicals are known carcinogens. […] They’re extremely poisonous, they’ve been banned in their countries of origin, yet the same companies are permitted by the Western jurisdictions in which they reside to export these harmful pesticides and herbicides into Africa.
So we’ve seen that there’s no regard for human life in Africa,” Njoroge told Sputnik Africa.
He further relayed that the decisions made by Western organizations, along with the “huge and disproportionate incidence” of severe illnesses among farmers exposed to toxic chemicals, led his firm to sue global corporations.
The legal action aims to advocate for a prohibition on the use of dangerous and very hazardous pesticides and herbicides in the Kenyan market.
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“And right now farmers are taking a preventative approach in terms of healthcare, so that we protect ourselves, we protect our farmers, we protect our nation, we protect our people from the huge health burden that is present at the moment,” he stated.
For the Kenya lawyer, the solution to this problem is quite simple: ban the pesticides, push for locally made products that are safer, and sensitize farmers.
