Mombasa Governor Abdulswamad Nassir has banned Miraa and Muguka businesses near schools.
School-going children should not be exposed to Muguka, which is available at low cost, Nassir said, adding he will not negotiate on the safety and well-being of the children of Mombasa.
“No one will be allowed to sell Miraa or Muguka outside the schools. If you want to do the business, sell them to adults and do it far from schools. If a 16 or 17-year-old child is able to get something worth Sh20 which has negative effect on them, then I will be forced to personally intervene,” the governor said.
“If you must do the Muguka business, do it in the right place. We should not expose our children to such stimulants. We want them to be involved in education and digital literacy programmes,” he added.
He called upon the education department to map out Miraa and Muguka businesses around both public and private schools.
Any trader found selling the two products around school premises will be arrested and charged in court.
Schools are expected re-open today Monday after a two-week extension by the Ministry of Education due to flooding across the country.
“Be warned, starting Monday anybody found selling Muguka around schools will be arrested and jail awaits you.”
He was speaking on Saturday at Khadija Primary School during the launch of the Mombasa Advancing Computing Literacy Project and handing over of computers to the institution.
The collaborative initiative by Mombasa County, Raspberry Pi Foundation and Tech Kidz Africa is based on a new computer curriculum.
Additionally, Nassir said all 2023 Form Four candidates who qualify to join universities will receive support from the county.
Each student will get Sh50,000 for their education.
His administration is also increasing the number of ECD classes to add to the existing 97 pre-schools within the region. Construction of two out of the eight additional classes is almost done.
“I have also directed the department of education to ensure that in the next financial year, all ECD learners not pay schools fees," the governor said.
"When I took over the leadership we had 8,000 ECD learners but the numbers have increased with 20 percent, we now have a total of 10,000 ECD learners."
