•The presidential candidate said snake farming is a multibillion business venture whose potential is yet to be explored
•To drive the point home, Roots Party Presidential Candidate George Wajackoyah and his running mate Justina Wamae took the potential investors to the Kenya Wildlife Service headquarters along Langata road on Monday.
Snake farming is a multibillion business venture whose potential is yet to be explored, presidential candidate George Wajackoyah of the Roots Party has said.
To drive the point home, Wajackoyah and his running mate Justina Wamae took the potential investors to the Kenya Wildlife Service headquarters along Lang'ata road on Monday.
"Today we have spent a whole day here on a snake policy. The KWS has the policy on snake farming," he said after engaging senior KWS officials.
The potential farmers of snake farming included Afrosayari Recreational Park Board and Director for Marketing John Muranda and the Chair James Gitundu.
KWS issues licenses for those interested in Snake farming.
The Service says those interested can download the license application form for Authority to Operate Wildlife Utilization Enterprise from its official website.
Wajackoyah said James Gitundu had applied for a license from the service but he was denied.
"He will be the first Roots Party of Kenya in the country to be a snake farmer," Wajackoyah said.
Wajackoyah took a swipe at the church accusing them of being scandalous.
"The churches have been having scandals. Some bishops have been found in uncompromising positions. They have not even read our manifesto," he said.
Wajackoyah added:
"Tell those men of God that it is time for them also to realize that Kenya does not belong to them and that some of us have grown into Christianity," he said.
He said the church should be at the forefront of fighting the ills in society and securing jobs for the unemployed.
Wajackoyah accused a section of the bishops of promoting corrupt practices.
"The young people will rebel against them," he said.
Gitundu said they are going to invest Sh 100 million and put up a snake park.
"We will be teaching those coming into the park about snake farming," he said.
He said the centre will employ experts such as snake handlers as they prepare the ground for antivenom farming.
Gitundu said they will have a platform for Kenyans to report whenever they see a snake for snake handlers to be dispatched.
He said snakes have a lot of medical products that can help benefit the country.
"A gram of snake venom goes for $120," he said.
Gitundu said Kenyans will embrace snake farming once they get knowledge of its benefits.
In 2020, Tourism CS Najib Balala revealed Kenya could soon start manufacturing its own anti-venom drug if the government legalizes the operations of a Kilifi County-based snake farm researching the drug.
Balala said his ministry was seeking a partnership with Bio Ken Snake Farm in Watamu with a view to endorsing the conservation group to extract venom from the reptiles and developing it into an antidote for snake bites.
Bio Ken has been milking and preserving venom from the snakes at the farm with the hope that they can use it to develop the anti-venom drug to treat people bitten by poisonous snakes.
The CS said snakes account for 80 per cent of all cases of human-wildlife conflicts in Kenya.
In 2020, compensation for snake bites was stopped.
This was after claims for snake bites stood at Sh5 billion.