Gachagua says former PS behind illicit alcohol in Mt. Kenya

Deputy President Rigathi Gachagua is now blaming a former Principal Secretary for the alcoholism the Central Kenya region has been grappling with.

Gachagua spoke on Monday in Chuka, Tharaka-Nithi County, when he met police commanders and officers from the National Authority for the Campaign Against Alcohol and Drug Abuse (NACADA), Kenya Bureau of Standards (KEBS) as well as the Kenya Revenue Authority (KRA) at a convention aimed at weeding out alcoholism in the region.

“The person behind this illicit alcohol in Mt Kenya is your former principal secretary, that is why you could not fight the thing. He used to deploy you to attend to other matters so you can leave him to carry out his trade,” the DP told delegates.

“During the Covid pandemic, all the bars were open so he could move his stock.”

He exuded confidence that the government will wipe out alcoholism in Kenya because it is led by people who do not tolerate alcohol, citing himself, President William Ruto, Interior Cabinet Secretary Kithure Kindiki and Interior PS Raymond Omollo, whom he said is allergic to alcohol.

“President William Ruto does not drink alcohol, he has no factory and no bar. Rigathi Gachagua quit alcohol 15 years ago and has no intention of going back,” he said to claps from the audience.

Mid last month, the government said it had arrested over 3,000 people, closed 5,000 unlicensed premises, and confiscated over 2 million litres of illicit alcohol, since it launched a crackdown in January, according to Interior Principal Secretary Raymond Omollo.

The latest statistics from NACADA show that Kenya’s Western region is leading in cases of alcoholism in the country, with an alcohol prevalence rate of 23.8%, followed by the Coastal region at 13.9%, and Central at 12.8%.

On consumption of alcohol, Western has the highest cases of chang'aa and traditional brew consumption while the Central region leads in the use of potable spirits (4.1%) followed by Coast (3.2%) and Rift Valley (3.1%);

Central region had the highest prevalence of current use of tobacco at 11.9% followed by Coast (10.8%) and Eastern (10.7%).