• Alcohol traders devise new methods of selling their booze.
• As enforcement and government officials concentrate their efforts in urban areas, the trade has switched to villages in the forests and river banks.
Image: COURTESY
Alcohol traders have devised new methods to beat curfew enforcers following the closure bars and other drinking joints in Nandi county.
As enforcement and government officials concentrate their efforts in urban areas, the trade has switched to villages in the forests and river banks.
On Sunday, residents of Tururo village in Koilot location, Nandi East protested what they termed as 'too much alcohol in the area'.
Second-generation and traditional brews are now being sold and manufactured within the neighbouring Cengalo Forest.
“While the government has ordered people to stay home to control the spread of the coronavirus here, the youth and elders spend all their day in the forest drinking illicit brews,” Martin arap Lelei said.
It’s a new thing in Tururo, a village bordering Cengalo Forest, now converted into drinking and brewing dens.
Previously, the forests were used for cattle grazing and were places where people would fetch firewood.
Kiminda chief Pricillah Terer confirmed that alcohol traders are moving their stock to the villages.
“They congregate in large numbers sharing alcohol and even drinking from either the same bottle or cups, threatening the gains made by the Ministry of Health,” Terer said on Sunday.
Maintaining social distance, hand washing and covering one's nose and mouth with a mask, are part of the new measures people have been asked to adopt to control the spread of the virus.
They are, however, not observed nor enforced in this drinking dens as customers sip, watching out for police or their informers.
Law enforcers are in a dilemma as they cannot arrest but only issue a police bond or fine on the spot.
In the dens, customers can access alcohol and common drugs such as bhang but at a higher price.
Rev Elijah Yego, a retired ACK priest, said he is deeply saddened by the continued availability of all forms of alcohol and drugs in the village.
“Different types of alcohol are sold through the back doors of closed bars, compromising directives for social distancing and against the congregation, " Yego said.
County commissioner Kutswa Olaka has asked chiefs and Nyumba Kumi chairpersons to report to the authorities those flouting orders not o congregate.
"It's a very serious offence punishable by law. We will not condone lawbreakers," Olaka said on the phone.
Edited by E.Kibii