Governor Lee Kinyanjui vows to fight illicit brew

Nakuru Governor Lee Kinyanjui has declared war on illicit brew in Nakuru County, saying he will fight it with all he has, even if it means losing votes.

Speaking in Subukia, the county chief said that unless stun measures are taken to curb the sale and consumption of illicit alcohol, the country will lose its most important labor force which is the youth.

“We will not stand and watch as our young generation dies because of alcohol, we will not wait to take people to the courts either, we have changed the style of dealing with this alcoholism in our community. If people want to take alcohol, let them take genuine alcohol,” Kinyanjui said.

They are people selling poison here in Nakuru, they are mixing methanol with water put into containers and selling to our people, we will not give them peace until they stop,” Kinyanjui added.

He earlier on led a contingent of security agencies and county officials in the demolition of structures said to be the dens of the illicit brews in Njoro and Subukia.

Kinyanjui has urged the security agencies to act with speed and put on notice those selling the poisonous brew to stop with immediate effect.

“For the chiefs who are here, these areas that have remained with these brews we must finish them, so warn them and tell them even if it means losing votes, I am not interested in votes of people killing our people.”

The sale and, consumption, and deaths due to illicit brews in the county have dominated headlines in Kenya this year, with two deadly incidences shaking the county administration and security agencies.

In August, ten people, among them a 7-month pregnant woman, died after consuming the poisonous brew in the Hodi Hodi area of Subukia.

The residents said that the illicit brews are sold in the nearby abandoned building and in bushes to avoid being detected by the local authority. The poisonous brew was believed to be methanol.

Several people managed to escape death by a whisker but not without scars with treatment ranging from alcohol intoxication and organophosphate poisoning.

Earlier December, six people died in Jawatho village, Njoro sub-county after consuming illicit liquor which is believed to be methanol.

Several others were admitted to the hospital with eyesight problems and other alcohol intoxication symptoms where 2 died later raising the number to 8.

The sales and consumption of illicit alcohol has been blamed on the lapses by the police who are accused of taking bribes from the people who sell the poison.

According to Rift Valley regional coordinator George Natembeya, the police have knowledge of the people engaging in the sale of the killer brews, but instead of arresting them, they have made them a cash cow.