Interior Cabinet Secretary Dr Fred Matiang'i has come under heavy criticism over his stand on a proposal to legalise marijuana in the country.

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The debate on decriminalisation of marijuana started last year after Kibra MP Kenneth Okoth moved a notice of motion for a Bill that seeks to legalise the use of Canabbis Sativa for medicinal purposes.

On Friday, however, Matiang'i dismissed the proposal, saying it will never see the light of the day and dimmed hopes of investors planning to cash in from the 'new' sector. 

"We have an application on my desk right now by some lunatic who's saying they need a license to build a factory in Kenya that processes cannabis for pharmaceutical use," the CS said during a function at Pangani Girls in Nairobi.

The remarks have attracted lots of criticism from a section of leaders, who have accused Matiang'i of being ignorant, of the fact that marijuana is one of the most sought-after substance in the modern medicine. 

"The ignorance in this clip overwhelms. Which hole does this one live in? How is it the science of it all hasn't reached him?" wondered ODM Secretary-General Edwin Sifuna after watching the clip of the CS at Pangani Girls.

Echoing similar sentiments, Dr John Njenga Karugia, a lecturer at Geothe University in Germany, said the proposal to build a factory for processing Cannabis was a 'lucrative deal' for the government, which Matiang'i should not turn down.

"Matiang'i and Sons Kenya Limited decline a lucrative idea to process Cannabis into pharmaceutical products but they sit on planes to be treated abroad using 'special' medicine in UK, France, Germany, USA and Switzerland without realising that they are also treated using Cannabis products," Karugia tweeted on Saturday.

Use, peddling or possession of bhang in Kenya was banned in 1914 by the British colonial administration.