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The Guardian - UK
The Guardian - UK
World
Carlos Mureithi in Nairobi

‘Free up the ganja’: Rastafarians in Kenya fight to decriminalise marijuana

Rastafarians pray in Kibera, Nairobi
Ras Dimo (left), Ras Masinde (right) and others pray at a gathering venue for Rastafarians in Kibera, Nairobi on 18 July, 2026. In 2021, the Rastafari Society of Kenya filed a court petition seeking the exemption of the religion’s followers from arrest and prosecution for using marijuana for religious purposes. Photograph: Edwin Ndeke/The Guardian

About a dozen people sang along to the pulsing vibrations of drums and a tambourine in a dimly lit room in Nairobi’s sprawling Kibera neighbourhood. For more than an hour they belted out song after song, the lyrics suffused with references to Ethiopia, Jah, Zion, Rastafari and Haile Selassie I.

One song went: “No night in a Zion, there is no night there / Hallelujah there is no night there / Rastafari is our light, and we need no other light / Hallelujah there is no night there.”

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