• Soon after President Kenyatta ordered the first curfew, party and alcohol lovers began plotting how to circumvent the order and continue with their "normal" lifestyles.
• Their new drinking dens are parking lots, car washes and private cars; others opt to be locked in bars and drink way past curfew hours.
Image: FILE
Kenyans, especially the urbanites, are merrymaking despite the sobering Covid-19 pandemic news and cessation of movement in and out of Nairobi and Mombasa.
Soon after President Uhuru Kenyatta ordered the first curfew (7pm-5am) and the closure of bars and entertainment avenues, party and alcohol lovers began plotting how to circumvent the order and continue with their ‘normal’ lifestyles.
To them, curfew was not an obstacle - only a nuisance. After all, many a crime has been committed for the love of the bottle.
Their new drinking dens are parking lots, car washes and private cars. Others opt to be locked in bars and drink way past curfew hours. Houses are used for carousing.
And the party and the beat go on. In South B, it is common to find many cars, each with three or so occupants, in the parking lot at Balozi shopping centre.
Before curfew, revellers partake beers, whiskies and wines in disposable tumblers with their car doors open and music blaring from speakers. Miraa is chewed as an accompaniment.
The number of revellers is multiplied many times over at weekends. In most cases, the parties are abruptly concluded a few minutes to curfew.
At Pangani shopping centre, the situation is replicated, except for the demographic. Here, it is the young people, who besides drinking alcohol and chewing miraa in cars, also smoke (illegal) shisha.
Near White Star Academy in Lang'ata, youths are served in parked cars outside liquor stores. They order drinks and are served till curfew hours.
The Nairobi National Park is the preferred location for revellers who love wide spaces. They come with drinks and even hold small parties.
The parking lots at Thika Road Mall are the drinking venues of young people, who arrive in cars purportedly for business in the expansive mall. They park away from nosy security guards.
The merrymakers have also ventured into open spaces along the hitherto no-go areas on Limuru Road near Gigiri, Kilimani and Kiambu Road.
In Kilimani, car washes serving fast foods and operate small pubs are the preference of revellers. They sit in cars, order light meals before they are served with drinks. Alternatively, they party outside as the cars are washed.
A carwash employee in Hurlingham told the Star that their pub has never closed even after the Ministry of Health directive for bars to be locked. It operates way past curfew hour as most clients live in the neighbourhood.
“After lockdown, we lock people inside to continue drinking and they can leave at their pleasure,” he said.
Many estate pubs in Lang’ata, Umoja, Donholm, Komarock, Thome, Mwiki and Utawala operate in a similar format. Likewise, the chang’aa and busaa dens of Kawangware, Mathare and Kibera.
Residents who chose not to be named told the Star that during curfew, only the bar doors are locked, not the partying.
A Makadara waitress said the police are aware of their discreet operations.
“Three police officers come here to drink at around 8pm after enforcing curfew elsewhere. Each gets a beer or two for free. Last Saturday, we held a big private party here till 3am,” she said.
These businesses go on in total disregard for social distancing. The revellers dance holding each other and hugging. Most do not wear face masks.
Last Friday, police arrested scores of revellers at Buffet Park in Hurlingham, a few days after the nearby Guava Club was raided.
On Saturday, 11 people were nabbed as they partied and drank at Avery Lounge in Utawala.
In nearby Kayole, an MCA was among 17 people arrested at a parking lot for flouting the Health ministry’s social distancing guidelines. They claimed they were waiting to hear the President’s speech.
Outside Nairobi, bar owners are hawking alcohol to "meet obligations like paying rent".
David Moseti, a bar owner in Malaba, Busia county, told the Star that apart from home deliveries, he sends his workers to hawk beer door to door in areas where most of his clients reside.
“We are compelled to be creative to overcome the challenges posed by Covid-19 to earn a living. Bars have been hit hard,” he said.
However, the Pubs, Restaurants and Entertainment Owners Association distanced itself from clubs flouting the government directives on coronavirus.
Chairman Patrick Muya recently on TV disowned those contravening the government directives.
“Our biggest worry as an association is that through online sale of alcohol products, many underage people are easily accessing alcohol,” Muya said.
- mwaniki fm