Bomet Governor Joyce Laboso is worried by the high levels of alcoholism in the county.
Bomet is among the leading counties with an alcoholism rate of 23 per cent, which is double the national average of of 12 per cent.
The governor spoke on Thursday at Koiwa in Konoin during the groundbreaking ceremony for the construction of a Sh8.2 million rehabilitation centre.
She was accompanied by Nacada chief executive officer Victor Okioma.
The county and Nacada are partnering to put up the facility to be completed in three months.
Okioma hailed the county for the initiative and pledged his commitment towards ensuring the facility serves its purpose.
He said he will dispatch a team of trainers to the county to train officers to work at the facility.
The county chief said the vice has now rendered many people due to overindulgence.
She asked residents to shun alcohol abuse and instead engage on meaningful activities that can improve their lives.
“As parents, we are ruining the future of our children if we do not change now by realising excessive drinking does not add anything to our lives,” she said.
The county administration will soon embark on an operation to weed out joints in all trading centers selling illegal liquor.
“If it means withdrawing licenses of these bars we shall do so. We only want those adhering to our regulations to be allowed to operate,” Laboso said.
Law enforcement officers will be deployed to ensure all presons selling illicit brews are identified, arrested and charged.
Last December, Interior CS Fred Matiang’i ordered investigations against a chief and his assistant in Bomet when five children were hospitalised after drinking chang’aa in Kaproret village.
Matiang’i faulted the two administration officials for negligence, ordering the local regional commissioner to oversee the probe against them. He ordered a crackdown in the area.