The National Campaign Against Drug Abuse (Nacada) chair John Mututho has blamed police and local administration officers for the rise in illicit brew deaths. Mututho said that instead of enforcing the law, the administrators are taking bribes from illegal brewers in different parts of the country. This bribery, he said, is affecting the fight against illegal brews by making it inefficient.
The former Naivasha MP’s accusation comes even as the death toll from illicit brew in Eldoret rose to 13 while a secondary school student in Nyeri was admitted in hospital on Monday after drinking the illicit liquor. A 10-year-old boy is currently in a coma after consuming the brew in Kitengela.
Meanwhile leaders in Naivasha sub-county have called for a presidential decree banning all the liquors. The leaders say this is the only way to end the second-generation brews killing Kenyans.
While welcoming the decision by the president to crack the whip on lethal drinks, the leaders said that the government had licensed those brewing the drinks.
Naivasha MP John Kihagi said it was an anomaly to call the drinks illicit as the brewers had legal licenses from the state. He challenged President Uhuru Kenyatta to borrow a leaf from former President Moi who in the late 70s banned busaa after learning that it was killing the people.