Kenya’s National Biosafety Authority (NBA) will host a delegation from its counterparts in Senegal for a three-day benchmarking visit from July 8, 2026, as way of strengthening its biosafety regulations and fostering institutional collaboration.

The Kenyan delegation will be led by Acting Chief Executive Officer of National Biosafety Authority Ann Karimi, while the Senegalese delegation will be headed by Executive Director Aliou Ndiaye.

Other members of the delegation will include; Colonel Lamine Kane, permanent Secretary and focal point Cartagena protocol, Ndiaye Aidara, Executive Secretary among others.

“The mission is intended to strengthen institutional and technical biosafety capacities, learn from Kenya’s experience in biosafety governance and explore sustainable partnerships between the two institutions,” Dr Karimi highlighted in a press statement.

As part of the visit, the Senegalese delegation will tour key facilities involved in GMO testing and biosafety oversight at the Kenya Agricultural and Livestock Research Organization (KALRO).

At KALRO-Muguga, the team will learn about genetically modified potato varieties that are being tested to improve yields and enhance resistance to diseases. The delegation will also visit KALRO-Kandara, where research on genetically modified cassava is underway.

Notably, the benchmarking visit aims to share Kenya’s experience in biosafety legal, policy, and institutional frameworks; exchange knowledge on GMO application review, risk assessment, decision-making, inspection, and post-approval monitoring; and demonstrate the role of GMO testing laboratories in biosafety regulation and trade facilitation.

The visit is also intended to showcase confined field trial management practices; and identify priority areas for collaboration, capacity building, and possible formal cooperation between the two biosafety authorities.

On Thursday July 9, 2026, the delegation will pay a courtesy call on the Agriculture Principal Secretary Paul Ronoh at his office in Nairobi.

The authority meanwhile is the National Focal for the implementation of the Cartagena Protocol on Biosafety which Kenya signed in 2000 and ratified in 2003.

The National Biosafety Authority (NBA) is a State Corporation established under the Biosafety Act, Cap 320 of the Laws of Kenya with the mandate to: exercise general supervision and control over the transfer, handling and use of Genetically Modified Organisms (GMOs) with a view to ensuring safety of human and animal health and provision of adequate protection of the environment.

• A Tell Media / KNA report / By Michael Omondi