Deputy President Kithure Kindiki has directed officers tasked with leading the war against illicit brews to enforce the law without fear or favour, cautioning against laxity and compromise.
The DP said those who will be found to have abetted the production, distribution or sale of the harmful drinks anywhere in the country will face the full force of the law.
“Enforcement agencies have been directed to be ruthless and any official of the Government of Kenya taking part in enforcement who compromises or allows sale or distribution of these dangerous products will face the consequences of the law,” DP said.
He on Wednesday at the Official Residence in Karen, Nairobi chaired a follow-up meeting bringing together representatives of the security agencies and heads of regulatory and enforcement agencies to assess enforcement of various directives and measures aimed at curbing production and distribution of the illicit drinks.
As he commended the officers for their efforts so far, he urged them to scale up the fight especially following the formation of a multi-agency team that has been mandated with escalating the war against the drinks to every part of the country.
“There has been work that has been ongoing but we want to scale it up. I commend the law enforcement and the regulatory agencies for the efforts they have made so far in the multi-agency format since the President ordered for the tightening of the responses to this menace,” DP stated.
The Deputy President said he will chair, every two weeks, a Multi-Sectoral High Level Team meeting that brings together all the stakeholders including industry and community representatives and is tasked with monitoring enforcement, identifying criminal elements involved in the business and rehabilitation of alcoholics and drug addicts.
Involvement of the local communities in the fight, he reiterated, is not optional noting the critical role they play in the flushing out of cartels driving the production and sale of the prohibited liquor.
“Our involvement of the community has not been optimal. We are going to optimize that involvement going forward. The enforcement and the regulatory agencies have been directed to work with the communities at the local level to fine-tune intelligence gathering but also to assist the public in identifying culprits who violate the law and who are endangering public safety and putting the lives of the people of Kenya at risk,” DP said.
The Deputy President also announced that new legislative measures to tighten the regulatory environment on ethanol importation and sale are being finalized.
“It has come out clearly that sale of ethanol is one of the areas we need to enhance control and also take action on people involved in illegal importation or diverting industrial ethanol for other uses,” he noted.
At the same time, Prof. Kindiki warned politicians against interfering with the rolling out of the stringent measures.
“In the past, this noble exercise has been politicized. This time round, we will not have anything of that nature because we will keep politics out of this. This is a national security and economic welfare issue,” he reiterated.
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