Interior Cabinet Secretary Joseph Nkaissery with National Authority for Campaign against Alcohol and Drug Abuse chairman John Mututho during the National Conference Against Alcohol and Drug Abuse at the Bomas of Kenya on May 18, 2015
By Nairobi Times Correspondent
The government has ordered all the 47 County Commissioners and other state agencies to close down about 156 alcohol-manufacturing companies.
Although the 156 companies are yet to be made public, Interior Cabinet Secretary Joseph Nkaissery has clarified that such companies were either involved in the production of second-generation liquor or their product failed to meet the required standards.
In a speech read on his behalf by the State Department of Correctional Services and Rehabilitation Principle Secretary Micah Bowen, the CS said 21 companies have been given a clean bill of health to continue manufacturing the product after complying with the set guidelines.
Mr. Nkaissery further said the government will destroy vessels involved in ferrying illicit drugs into the country alongside establishment of addiction treatment centres to offer free treatment and counselling services to the affected caucus.
The CS spoke today at the Kenya School of Monetary Studies during the official unveiling of the 4th National Conference on Alcohol and Drug Abuse.
Nkaissery said the government has set aside Sh. 30,000 per quarter to every Chief to ensure that they spearhead the eradication of illicit brew in the country.
The CS shut down directive comes within a year of President Uhuru Kenyatta order to all government agencies to confiscate all business entities involved in production of illicit brew across the country.
Speaking at the same event, National Campaign against Drug and Alcohol Abuse (NACADA) Chairperson John Mututho called on the government to enforce a policy that will avert and control the importation of illicit drugs into the country.
Mututho wants three pieces of legislation be implemented to up scale the effective operation of the drug agency.
They include alcohol regulation quality, regulation on treatment and rehabilitation and enforcement of section 90 of NACADA 2012 laws.
The NACADA Chairperson has at the same time urged the government to increase its annual budget to Sh. 5 billion down from the Sh. 167 million allocated to it in the 2016/2017 financial year.
He said the allocated kitty was not sufficient to aid his organization to effectively undertake its work.
The Conference which is slated to end tomorrow is focusing on the United Nations Special Session on Drugs which will be held next month in New York and whose main objective will be to review the global implementation of the political declaration and plan of action on international cooperation towards an integrated and balanced strategy that counter the world drug problem
