Let Us Support Gachagua’s Campaigns Against Lethal Illicit Brew In Central

By: Joseph Mutua Ndonga

Worth Noting:

• The local leaders, who had spoken earlier, had brought the matter to his attention and pleaded with him to intervene.
• The poisonous illicit brews are flooding this county. It is being sold in every village and shopping center.
• It has destroyed the lives of tens of thousands of young people. Hardly a week passed without the burial of a victim taking place in neighborhood.

A day after a section of media reported that the Deputy President Rigathi Gachagua had issued a one-bar-per-town order, the bar/club owners and operators took on DP head-on.

They accused him of having hatched a plot to destroy the businesses he had promised to protect during the electioneering period.

If the plan succeeds, tens of thousands of hustlers in his turf of Mount Kenya region will be rendered jobless.

But in a swift rejoinder, Gachagua lashed out at the media for misquoting him. He clarified that he did not call for the closure of licensed bars and clubs.

The DP spoke in Murang’a where he was hosted by the area governor Irungu Kang’ata.

The local leaders, who had spoken earlier, had brought the matter to his attention and pleaded with him to intervene.

The poisonous illicit brews are flooding this county. It is being sold in every village and shopping center.

It has destroyed the lives of tens of thousands of young people. Hardly a week passed without the burial of a victim taking place in neighborhood.

The lives of those surviving had been completely ruined.

Some of them had become zombies (cannot keep wives, sire babies), others were burden to their parents and relatives and posed security threat.

This is because they were not working. They needed money to buy the cheap brews and so resorted to stealing.

A chunk of the stuff is not brewed here. We do not know where it was coming from.

If this problem persists, we are going to lose a whole generation.

The bar owners and attendants reasoned: Yes, we agree that some of brews being sold were substandard and posed real health risks to the consumers.

These brews were being sold in unlicensed dodgy pubs mostly located in the slums. The  DP train his guns on these pubs.

It should be noted that County Liquor Licensing Board is legally mandated to issue the licenses. The DP left no doubt that he respected the board.

The board’s decision is not however cast on stone. It was subject to review.

Those who deviated from the regulations, it had the power to cancel the licenses.

They were strictly required to operate within the time stipulated in law.

I hail from Mount Kenya region and I know the illicit brews have destroyed many homes. So, let us support Gachagua’s efforts to fight the menace.

Joseph Mutua Ndonga is a writer and political analyst based in Nairobi