The issue of alcoholism in the Mt Kenya region has become as emotive as land, with political, community and religious leaders calling for it to be declared a regional disaster.
Deputy President Rigathi Gachagua has since adopted the issue as his pet subject, saying he is ready to risk his political ambitions by confronting the alcohol cartels.
“If ensuring that we get rid of the merchants of death who pose as liquor dealers in this region causes me to lose popularity, so be it. I cannot be a bystander when killer brews continue to wreak havoc on our productive population,” he said in a speech in Nyeri County last Saturday.
Mr Gachagua urged all Mt Kenya leaders to get involved in the fight, telling them that if the youth drown in alcoholism, “you will not have the numbers to vote in your future power struggle.
The fight is not new. Kenya Cultural Centre Board Chairman Kung’u Muigai said former President Uhuru Kenyatta had launched the war against killer brews in 2015, but abandoned it when the cartels fought back.
“He had said this region had a drinking problem. He mobilised the region’s politicians to lead a united crackdown on this business of death. But the war was abandoned,” he said.
And just like Mr Kenyatta’s, the DP’s current drive is facing a lot of headwinds as the cartels fight back .
National Agency for the Campaign Against Drug Abuse (Nacada) pioneer chairman Joseph Kaguthi said a 2021 research in Mt Kenya region indicated that children as young as 12 years were getting addicted to alcohol.
“The report, The crisis and action plan towards a sober Central region (2021), showed that alcohol, bhang, khat and tobacco were the most widely abused poisons with the youngest addict being 12 years old and the oldest being 86,” he said.
He added that the liquor and narcotics industries were known to be well-funded “and where money does not buy impunity, brute force is used, hence Mr Gachagua’s noble cause is facing an uphill battle”. But he is optimistic about success.
“Our hopes of success lie in the fact that for the first time we are witnessing both the first and second families leading the war from the front, even though it has been noted that most politicians have stayed away for fear of political backlash,” said Mr Kaguthi.
Kikuyu Council of Elders chairman Wachira Kiago said the high rates of murders, suicides, depression and family breakdowns in the region were directly linked to alcoholism.
While Mr Gachagua had projected to eradicate illegal distilleries and reduce the number of bars by half in Nyandarua, Nyeri, Kirinyaga, Murang’a and Kiambu, Embu, Laikipia, Nairobi, Meru, Tharaka Nithi and Nakuru by now, this is yet to happen.
In Murang’a, for example, Governor Irungu Kang’ata’s attempt to reduce the number of bars by 65 per cent hit a snag after those allowed to operate joined forces with those denied licences and obtained a court injunction.
Apart from Kiambu, where Governor Kimani Wamatangi announced a 50 per cent reduction in number of registered bars, no other county in the region has released data on the implementation of the DP’s directive.
Central Regional Commissioner Fred Shisia said the government directive would be implemented to the letter “and all those in the multi-agency team who have been given the responsibility but feel they are not up to the task better get out”.
Murang’a Senator Joe Nyutu told the Nation that “we are optimistic that the community shame that has seen our children murdering their parents to inherit family wealth which they continue to squander on alcoholism and drugs will stop”.
He accused some security officials of aiding and abetting the menace by protecting liquor cartels. “We may want to pretend that we do not know where this war is going. We have some politicians, security officials and influential leaders who protect these cartels. But I am proud that the President and his deputy are determined to fight this sabotage,” he said.
But former Jubilee Party secretary-general Jeremiah Kioni accused the government of paying lip service to the menace.
“I totally agree that we have an alcoholism crisis in Mt Kenya but it cannot be tackled by putting bar owners, barmaids and other allied classes of people who earn their livelihood in bars out of work,” he said.
He added that jobs should be created for the youth and the supply of raw materials used in illegal distilleries should be cut so that the sector dies on its own.
“The same government that pretends to be fighting killer brews is home to allies who own moonshine distilleries, some of whom have been appointed to public service positions,” Mr Kioni said.
