Nairobi, Feb. 17 -- The biotech research community in Kenya heaved with relief when the government lifted a decade-old ban on genetically modified organisms (GMOs) in October last year.

This would face headwinds immediately when court cases stopped the regulator, the National Biosafety Authority (NBA), from facilitating the distribution, importation, transactions and growth of GMOs.

Dr Roy Mugiira, chief executive of NBA, was the regulator's founding CEO when it was set up in 2009.

He is back at the institution in the same capacity at a time the country is engaged in a divisive debate over whether GM food crops are the solution to its perennial food insecurity.

Dr Mugiira spoke to the Business Daily on Kenya's regulatory position, why...