Interior CS Kithure Kindiki has announced tough measures aimed at dealing with the illicit brew menace in the country.
This is after several people in Kirinyaga county died and others went blind after consuming poisonous liquor.
Kindiki visited the counted on Friday and ordered closure of all bars in the county with immediate effect.
The crackdown of bars has also been extended across the country.
“We have directed the county security teams to work with county governments to review the licences of all bars in the country and close down those without licences,” Kindiki said.
“We have also initiated a programme to help those of us who are chronically addicted to alcoholism and drugs and therefore, our chiefs and assistant chiefs have been instructed to collect data from every village so that we can take them for rehabilitation,” he further said
Kindiki also said that he would return to Kirinyaga on Wednesday to confirm whether his directive had been effected.
“County commissioner and your team, you have heard what the people want. Today is Friday and I will be back here on Wednesday to ensure that the directive is effected,” Kindiki said after a resident begged him to shut down the bars for even two months so that the killer brew problem can be dealt with.
Comparing the menace to terrorism and banditry, Kindiki said that the operation against it will not stop until the problem is gone.
“We are going to treat it (illicit brew menace) the way we have treated the problem of terrorism and banditry by having a continuous permanent operation until this problem is gone.
“I want the country to know that unlike in the past when we have had incidents like this and then the government comes in and announces an operation for three months for two months for six months.
“We are not going to withdraw or scale it down. So we don’t expect short fixes. It’s not a two-month operation, six months, one year, or two years. We are going to stay on this operation as long as the problem exists,” he said.
