Nacada has partnered with the Nyeri county government to build a Sh20 million rehabilitation centre in Tetu, authority CEO Victor Okioma said on Thursday.
The National Authority for the Campaign Against Alcohol and Drug Abuse will hand over the management of the centre to the county upon completion.
Okioma said the rehab is being set up in Nyeri because it is among regions with serious problems of alcoholism and substance abuse.
“This region is among those leading in terms of drug and substance abuse in the country,” Okioma said.
He spoke during the laying of the foundation stone for the Ihururu Rehabilitation and Treatment Center. Nyeri is ranked sixth among counties with serious drug and substance abuse. Mombasa tops the list.
Okioma said 95 per cent of rehabilitation centers across the country are privately run making them costly for many Kenyans.
“This is why the national and county governments are working together to put-up facilities that are publicly owned to reduce the cost of treatment and rehabilitation,” Okioma said.
He said the authority plans to set up such centres in 10 counties. Okioma asked governors to invest in rehabilitation strategies to help residents struggling with addiction.
Most drug and alcohol addicts suffer stigmatisation, Okioma said, and asked Kenyans to see those struggling with addiction as patients who need help.
He said there was a scientific way of assisting the addicts to recover and become productive members of the community.
“Let us not be a community where addicts are despised and seen as people with no value in society. We would like to say as Nacada, that we stand for love for these people and we try to make an effort to assist them,” he said.
He asked counties to reinvest money generated from bars and restaurants licensing to supporting rehabilitation and prevention campaigns.
Nyeri Governor Mutah Kahiga pledged to ring-fence the Sh52 million collected from bar licensing and reinvest it in prevention measures.
The rehab which is being built on a five-acre land is expected to accommodate 100 patients and will serve the entire county. Kahiga said suicide cases had risen in Nyeri due to frustration attributed to drug and alcohol abuse.
edited by peter Obuya
