Wiper Party leader Kalonzo Musyoka has warned Kenyans against the impending vaccination of cattle as announced by President William Ruto during the Maa Cultural Festival in Samburu County on November 8, 2024.

In a press conference in Nairobi on Friday, November 15, 2024, Kalonzo stated that the planned vaccination exercise had a hidden agenda, which could bring with it a host of complications to cattle and human populations in the future.

“The proposed vaccination project has all the markings of a sinister foreign agenda. It does not augur well for the pastoralist groups and this nation as a whole,” Kalonzo said.

Adding: “The plan wants to introduce gene-modifying drugs into the Kenyan bovine livestock in order for them to ostensibly cease emitting methane gas into the atmosphere. We take note that these vaccinations developed overseas have been rejected everywhere else in the world, including in the United States of America.

Kalonzo said that as the substantive opposition party, he would use all the legal and constitutionally sanctioned means to ensure that the exercise does not happen in the country.

“Do not let anyone near your cattle in the pretense of vaccination. The admission of these vaccines in Kenya is clearly irresponsible and risky,” Kalonzo said.

Planned vaccination

On November 8, 2024, Ruto revealed that a planned vaccination to be carried out in January 2025 will target 22 million cattle and 50 million goats and sheep.

He explained that the programme will help prevent animal diseases and thus secure the international market for livestock products.

“This will ensure we access both national and international markets for our livestock products,” Ruto said.

Ruto also said that the government had allocated Ksh1 billion for restocking livestock lost during the drought in the northern part of the country.

Side effects

However, Kalonzo notes that after intensive research, they have come to the conclusion that the planned vaccination could have far-reaching side effects on the Kenyan population.

Kalonzo said that some of the side effects of the vaccine could be deformities in cattle born of vaccinated parents and that the vaccine could greatly hamper the chances of the cattle reproducing.

He also said that the negative effects of the vaccination could easily be passed to human populations through the consumption of vaccinated animals.

He indicated that the benefactors of the project state that the vaccine could reduce the gas emissions from animals’ digestive gases, which cause climate change.