Chronicles of Kirinyaga's illegal brew wars: The women who dared
From left: Kiamuenja elder Lucy Wanjiru Karimi at her kiosk in Kirinyaga County, Kiamburi elder Anne Wanjiku Gikunju, and Kirima elder Jane Wangeci during separate interviews in their villages on January 30, 2025.
What you need to know:
- Three female village elders in Kirinyaga - Jane Wangechi Kathimba, Lucy Wanjiru, and Anne Gikunju - are leading a dangerous fight against makabo, a lethal brew that has devastated their communities.
- Despite facing threats, these women have persisted in their raids and community policing efforts, often risking their lives and livelihoods.
- Their courage has led to remarkable results.
Deep in Kirinyaga Central, three villages once notorious for makabo (illegal brew) brewing are writing a new chapter, thanks to their fearless female village elders.
Their story begins with Jane Wangechi Kathimba, who had something her community desired: leadership.
In the 2000s, she led a water project that resulted in the government connecting at least 100 households to clean water. When the time came to elect a village elder in 2001, Jane was the natural choice. The role came with the responsibility of cracking down on makabo, a local illicit brew rampant in the area.
Kirima village elderJane Wangeci during the interview on January 30, 2025.
"At the time, in every 10 households, at least three were brewing makabo, and you'd find men staggering or sprawled on the roadside because of its effects," she recalls.
Jane says that together with the area chief, they would ambush the brewers and arrest them, often facing violent confrontations. “Many times, I was threatened with being burnt alive in my house, or the youth would plot to waylay and attack me for destroying their source of income and food, as they considered makabo a staple,” she narrates.
But their threats were like a frog croaking at a cow drinking from the river, a mere distraction. They never deterred her efforts to end the brewing of the illicit liquor, which posed a serious threat to her village’s security. Her most recent encounter with rowdy youth was in 2023 when, together with the chief, they arrested young men with five jerrycans of makabo.
The chief requested her to keep the liquor in her house as they waited for the police vehicle to collect the evidence. However, the young men later ambushed her at home, warning that they would stone her to death. As she ran for safety, they took the jerrycans and fled.
For Lucy Wanjiru, a village elder in Kiamwenja since 2015, the locals know better than to threaten her directly. "I only hear from others that they say if they had the power, they would punish me thoroughly. But no one has ever dared to tell me to my face that they would harm me," she says.
Kiamuenja village elder Lucy Wanjiru Karimi during the interview at her kiosk in Kirinyaga County on January 30, 2025.
However, they have a silent yet influential way of punishing her. Lucy runs a roadside food joint in the village, and they often discourage customers from buying her food, branding her a “venomous snake” for destroying their source of income and pleasure.
Their fear of confronting her comes from her history of physically confronting those who threaten her or others. However, this combative nature changed after she underwent training in anger management, courtesy of the area chief.
Similarly, when she was elected, Lucy recalls the widespread production, distribution, and consumption of makabo in her area. She says this contributed to many cases of domestic violence reported to her.
Back then, a week would not pass by without reports of at least five cases of conflict between married couples, many of which arose from alcohol-induced abuse or men wasting money on makaboinstead of paying school fees for their children.
Kiamburi village elder Anne Wanjiku Gikunju during the interview on January 30, 2025.
She says their firm crackdown on the brew, which gained momentum in 2023 following the Cabinet’s approval of a nationwide effort, has borne fruit. “Now, the village is quieter. I can confidently say I haven’t been informed of any brewing in my village, nor have I encountered anyone drunk. Perhaps they are doing it in deep secrecy,” she says.
Presently, she says she handles, at most, one case of domestic violence in a month.
For Anne Gikunju, a village elder in Kiamburi, fighting alcohol production required strategic and discreet patrols. “People hide the alcohol on farms where you wouldn’t suspect,” she says.
“But through careful patrols, I was able to locate their storage sites, and that’s how we managed to end brewing here. It takes courage because they are never happy with what you do, but I’m proud that so far, I haven’t seen a resurgence of the activity.”
