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Residents of Thunu village in Meru county prepare khat for sale.

| Charles Wanyoro | Nation Media Group

How miraa went from 'drug' to political raw nerve, holy grail of Meru

In 1972, Ntonyiri MP Joseph Muturia devised a plan to have Kenya’s first President, Mzee Jomo Kenyatta, recognise miraa as a cash crop.

This was after a long fight stretching back to the colonial era that saw many paint the plant as a hard drug.