Importers of unregistered pest products face a Sh1 million fine and imprisonment for two years after MPs backed a new Bill that introduces stringent controls and robust inspection powers.
The National Assembly cleared the Pest Control Products Bill, 2025.
The Bill, which is one step more to become law, introduces stringent controls, robust inspection powers and steep criminal penalties to deter these violations.
“There was a need to review the penalties in the Bill to ensure they are commensurate with the offences,” John Mutunga, who chairs the committee, said.
“The committee adopted amendments on the sale of unregistered products, to deter the poisoning of protected wildlife, and to encourage members of the public to report pesticide misuse to the Pest Control Authority.”
The Bill sets penalties of Sh1 million fine, two years jail term or both to individuals found to import or sale pesticides unregistered pesticides.
The Bill seeks to establish a comprehensive statutory and institutional framework to regulate the importation, exportation, manufacture, acquisition, distribution, advertising, use and disposal of products used for the control of pests and the organic function of plants.
The Bill establishes the pest Control Products Authority, provides for its powers and functions, and modernises the registration, certification and monitoring of pest control products in order to protect human health, animal health and the environment while supporting sustainable agricultural production.
“Following a comprehensive examination of the Bill and a rigorous synthesis of the submissions made, the committee observed that this legislative intervention transitions the country’s pesticide regulation toward a modern, science-driven framework that incorporates global and regional best practices,” John Mutunga, who chairs the committee, said.
“The Bill resolves long-standing statutory obsolescence by repealing the Pest Control Products Act (Cap. 346), enacted in 1 982, and it addresses the contemporary agricultural, environmental, public health and trade realities that have emerged since that time, thereby closing the enforcement gaps, weak penalty structures and procedural limitations of the legacy framework.”
The Bill strengthens Kenya's institutional architecture by establishing the Pest Control Products Authority to replace the Pest Control Products Board.
The Authority will hold clear powers to assess, register, classify, certify, ban and monitor pest control products throughout their life cycle, to advise on maximum residue limits and to monitor residues in food and the environment.
The framework secures compliance with Kenya's obligations under the Rotterdam, Stockholm and Basel Conventions and the World Trade Organization, protecting market access for the country’s agricultural exports and mitigating the risk of non-tariff trade restrictions and cargo rejections in premium markets.
The Authority will retain national regulatory and enforcement powers over product registration, standards and the import and export of pest control products, while a specialised Technical Advisory Committee assists the Registrar in the technical evaluation of applications.
County governments will undertake local functions, including the licensing of premises, awareness creation and the training of agro-dealers and farmers.
While moving debate on the Second Reading of the Bill, Mr Mutunga said the Pest Control Products Act (Cap. 346) was enacted in 1982, predates the Constitution of Kenya, 2010, and the State Corporations Act, and no longer provides for body corporate Status or addresses highly hazardous pesticides, biological pest control, digital licensing, climate change and integrated pest management.
“The existing framework is therefore obsolete and justifies a modern, science-based statute,” he said.
“The majority of the stakeholders, including the Pest Control Products Board, the Council of Governors, the Kenya Plant Health Inspectorate Service, the Ministry of Health, aak- GROW/CropLife Kenya and Nature Kenya, supported the enactment of the Bill subject to specific amendments.”
Mr Mutunga said there was need to review the penalties in the Bill to ensure they are commensurate with the offences.
He said the committee adopted amendments to criminalise the sale of unregistered products and to deter the poisoning of protected wildlife.
Several MPs, including Kilgoris MP Julius Sunkuli, blamed the rising cases of cancer on the use of poisonous pesticides.
Kilgoris MP Julius Sunkuli.
Photo credit: File I Nation Media Group
The State backed Bill follows a petition by Uasin Gishu Woman Representative Gladys Boss, who has demanded a complete ban of use pesticides that have been rejected in Europe.
The Bill awaits the second reading, where MPs scrutinise the proposed law clause by clause and propose amendments.
It will then be voted on at the Third Reading stage before being forwarded to the President for Assent.
