Pharmacist wants law on clinical officers changed

What you need to know:

Dr George Wang’ang’a says the law has stripped government agencies of their power to issue certificates of compliance to good manufacturing practice (GMP).
The applicant has accused the National Assembly and the House Speaker of “unconstitutionally and illegally” passing substantive amendments to the PPB Act under the guise of an amendment to the Clinical Officers Bill.
He said the accused refused to submit the amendments to the Senate — considering that control of drugs manufacturing is a county governments’ role — and instead submitted directly to the President for assent.

A pharmacist has moved to court seeking a review of the law on clinical officers saying it exposes Kenyans to the risk of consuming counterfeit medicines.

Dr George Wang’ang’a says the law has stripped government agencies of their power to issue certificates of compliance to good manufacturing practice (GMP).

This follows an amendment that was “sneaked” into the Clinical Officers (Training, Registration and Licensing) Bill 2016 in Parliament before it was passed into law.

Dr Wang’ang’a claims in court papers seen by the Business Daily that the amendments, which intended to transfer the GMP inspection powers to the Pharmacy and Poisons Board (PPB) from the National Quality Control Lab (NQCL), ended up stripping both agencies of the role, putting consumers of local generic medicines at risk.

“The amendment led into an erroneous deletion of section 35 I (b) of the Pharmacy and Poisons Board Act, which allows for GMP inspection before issuance of licenses to local pharmaceutical manufacturers.”

The applicant has accused the National Assembly and the House Speaker of “unconstitutionally and illegally” passing substantive amendments to the PPB Act under the guise of an amendment to the Clinical Officers Bill.

He said the accused refused to submit the amendments to the Senate — considering that control of drugs manufacturing is a county governments’ role — and instead submitted directly to the President for assent. He also accused the Attorney General, Githu Muigai of failing to perform his constitutional duty of appropriately advising the President against signing the amendments into law.