Security personnel in Kirinyaga County have expressed concerns over the numerous brands of illicit alcohol being sold in the area. Speaking during Mashujaa Day celebrations at Kianyaga in Gichugu, the county police commander, Anderson Njagi, said that security apparatus and relevant authorities were now prioritising the fight against illicit liquor business.
Having served the county for a month, Njagi said he was deeply troubled by how the illicit trade that is detrimental to the health of the locals had penetrated within Kirinyaga County. He expressed concerns with data that shows Kirinyaga has the highest number of illicit alcohol as compared to other counties which have larger populations.
“I have worked in this country, but it looks as if Kirinyaga is the headquarters of all bad brands of alcohol. The deadly alcohol I have seen here, even their names you cannot open your mouth to mention, and if you write the list, a full foolscap will be full,” Njagi said.
According to Njagi, Kirinyaga with a population of about 600,000 people has more than 100 brands of illicit alcohol, yet bigger counties with more than one million population have only two such brands.
He called on the residents of the county to work together with thesecurity agencies to put to an end the consumption and the selling of this illegal alcohol.
“If we do not fight this deadly alcohol, tomorrow women will not have their grandchildren, as they were saying when they were speaking, and that is true,” he noted. “If we do not fight this menace, where are we going? Your numbers will go down and down, then at the end of the day we will not even have a voice nationally.”
On her part, Kirinyaga County Commissioner Shifaa Omar Mwijuma vowed to sustain a county-wide crackdown, insisting that illicit alcohol is harming the community.
“My people of Kirinyaga, I must tell you the truth as a woman, it is burning. We must work together to eliminate this menace,” she said, expressing concerns that alcohol abuse was affecting young people’s willingness and/or ability to start families.
