"My khat worth 15,000 U.S Dollars was seized at the airport by the police,” she says, indignation written all over her face.

"They were instructed to seize khat except the one owned by those in Villa Somalia,” she adds, referring to the country’s seat of power.

In an interview, Salad tells reporters in Mogadishu about the politics that underlie herb business as she recalls the harrowing accounts of how government-imposed restrictions on khat license has affected their businesses.

Salad, 54, a mother,  earns her living selling khat (miraa) in KM5 area. Over the years, she has lived through the herb that is brought in from Kenya. But in recent days, since the Covid-19 pandemic ravaged the world, the trade has had its own politics.

Early last year, President Mohamed Farmaajo banned miraa exports from Kenya, pushing the diplomatic relations between the two countries to the worst.

However, Ethiopian khat known as Hareeri poured to the markets of Mogadishu for the first time, after Somali government imposed the ban even though almost all of the aircraft ferrying the herb from Ethiopian are Kenyan registered aircraft.

Salad accuses President Farmaajo for monopolizing the trade in khat for the benefit of his family. The President has ensured that his brother, Hassan, and the deputy Mayor of Mogadisho are the only ones issued with exclusive license to import the product.

Those allowed to import khat are Ali Yare Ali, who is the deputy Mayor of Mogadishu, President Farmaajo and his brother, Hassan.

"All the money from the khat business go to Villa Somalia.” Salad said, urging the federal government to provide khat import license to the other businesses.

Denied of business the traders have threatened to organize a protest against Villa Somalia’s monopoly on business if the ban is not lifted.

"I used to import khat from Hargeisa, Kismaayo and Garowe, but none of the options are possible today and we will confront it with protests” Salad added.

Miraa trade has been at the centre of diplomatic relations between the two countries.

Observers say that Somalia has used khat as bargaining chip whenever its interests and that of kenya

The latest ban by President Farmaajo is not the first. In 2016, his predecessor, President Hassan Sheikh banned the import of khat from Kenya arguing that the trade and consumption of the stimulant had a "devastating” impact on Somalis.

"We had a series of discussions and consultations and agreed to end the trade of the narcotic leaf,” Mr Sheikh said in June 2016.

However, the ban was lifted in September in an agreement reached between President Uhuru Kenyatta and President Sheikh during a bilateral held on the sideline of the 28th IGAD Extra-Ordinary Summit of Heads of State and Government held in Somali’s capital Mogadishu on 13th September 2016.

Another trader in Mogadisho says there were no khat monopoly at during the reign of President Sheikh.

"The president, his brother and Ali Yare Ali are the only three people who can import khat,” the trader said.

Analysts believe Villa Somalia’s imposition of Khat ban is for the benefit of president’s brother Hassan Farmaajo and his business associate Ali Yare Ali, the deputy mayor of Mogadishu.

Rashid Abdi, a Kenyan born analyst on Somalia says that political economy of Khat now woven into Kenya-Somalia tensions.

"Villa Somalia elite has vested interest in Ethiopian khat. Locking Kenyan khat out of market creates monopoly, lucrative profit. Kenyatta Administration under constant pressure from khat growers in Kenya to push their interest.” Rashid Abdi said on twitter.

Somalia is Kenya's biggest market for miraa, and this ban hits right at the heart of many small and large-scale farmers engaged in the business. There have been several meetings between business communities from both countries, sadly the impasse has not been resolved as both governments take hardline positions at the negotiating table, especially Villa Somalia’s khat monopoly.