The government has tried to fight this problem, especially at the Coast where we witnessed the torching of two yachts seized for trafficking heroin.
That was a big effort by President Uhuru Kenyatta and DP William Ruto, whose administration has shown political goodwill to fight narcotics.
The fight started with President Mwai Kibaki when Internal Security minister George Saitoti went to Parliament and named drug lords. He even promised to name more drug barons but unfortunately died before doing so.
There is only one problem, though - corruption in the police service. Not all police officers are corrupt. We have very good policemen and women.
However, there are a few corrupt officers who make this fight difficult even for Nacada, which is toothless because it cannot investigate, arrest barons or charge them.
This mandate is left to the police, some of whom are corrupt and in the pockets of the drug barons.
The government needs to investigate and identify the few corrupt officers who curtail efforts to fight drugs.
One thing that the government has not come out clear about is why we rarely see heroin that has been seized being burnt. In the nine years, I was in Nacada, the only thing we saw being burnt is bhang.
Another major setback is the government’s failure to open the Miritini Drug Rehabilitation Centre as was proposed by Nacada. We began this campaign to have the Miritini rehab opened in the National Youth Service compound together with former Nacada chair John Mututho.
The President even agreed to have the rehab opened and be the referral centre at the Coast. I would urge the government to speed up this process. There are many peddlers selling drugs on behalf of barons in all six counties of the Coast.
There are even families that are known to sell drugs as a ‘profession’. These should be investigated, arrested and prosecuted.
The Judiciary has let down the fight against drugs. Efforts by the government are sometimes thwarted by the release of traffickers on low bail. The government must find a way to tighten the noose
The former Nacada director and an anti-drugs crusader spoke to the Star
