As the fight against illicit and second generation brews intensify across the Mt Kenya region, leaders are rooting for concerted efforts between all stakeholders for the success of the fight.
Kiambu Deputy Governor Rosemary Kirika and her Nyeri counterpart David Kinaniri maintain that the killer brews crisis will be solved once all players join efforts.
Mrs Kirika reiterated that the brews have claimed hundreds of innocent lives, destroyed lives and broke many families in the region adding that there’s no time to relent until the liquor is wiped out of the region.
Speaking during the burial of elder David Mungai in Makwa village, Gatundu North constituency, the two leaders said that all requisite authorities including the Kenya Bureau of Statistics (KeBs), Nacada, Anti counterfeit Authority, Kenya Revenue Authority, The National Police Service (NPS) and the National Government Administration Officers (NGAO) among others must wake up from their slumber land and work swiftly to slay the killer brews dragon.
Kirika noted that hthefight against chang’aa has been won adding that the purge against counterfeit and second generation liquor will be won as well.
“In places like Makwa village, chang’aa was a thorn in the flesh for decades but it was wiped out by multisectoral teams. The problem we are now facing is counterfeit brews that are being sold in bars. This alcohol has killed many of our children, dimmed dreams of many and destroyed families. We must unite in this fight for the sake of our children and our community,” Kirika said.
She averred that joblessness is one of the reason that many youths are indulging in illicit brews consumption and abuse quipping that deliberate efforts must be adopted both the governments and the private sector to create opportunities for the youth and salvage them from succumbing to the brews.
The DG noted that, through her Rosemary Kirika Foundation, her team has been training and assisting local youths on beekeeping as an income-generating venture. She noted that it is a project aimed at saving the youth from sinking into alcoholism while providing them with an alternative job opportunity.
“I realized that our region is favourable for apiculture and I started enrolling youth into the programme. We are keeping bees and we have a ready market for bee products. This is helping our youth relying on decent income to eke a living,” she said.
Kirika noted that more youths in the region will be training and provided with requisite equipment to venture into apiculture.
Similar sentiments were echoed by Kinaniri who reiterated that the killer brews menace has now become a national concern adding that all cartels involved in the brewing and sale of the liquor must be flushed out from their dungeons to face the full wrath of the law.
“Those endangering the lives of our children must face the law. The future of our children and our community is at risk of this crisis is not addressed to the latter,” he said.
Kinaniri also averred that county governments must relook their liquor laws and tighten the nozzle on licensing noting that uncontrolled licensing of liquor joins has contributed to menace.
He at the same time urged parents to assume their role of proper parenting and advise their children against indulgence in alcoholism noting that they took can play a pivotal role in addressing the crisis.
This comes as residents in villages across the region continue to raid liquor dens in the fight against the brewing, same and consumption of outlawed liquor.
