The Cabinet Secretary for Interior and National Administration, Kipchumba Murkomen Saturday warned individuals involved in the distribution of illicit drugs and adulterated ethanol that their days are numbered.
Speaking during the farewell and engagement ceremony of Sandra Chebichii, daughter of Moiben Constituency MP Prof. Phyllis Bartoo and High Court Judge Justice Joseph Sergon, held in Kimumu, Uasin Gishu County, the CS declared 2026 a decisive year in the fight against drug and substance abuse.
“This is the year we are liberating our youth from the yoke of drug and substance abuse. I am telling the major distributors of drugs and adulterated ethanol that your days are over,” Murkomen said.
To reinforce this effort, the CS announced that he will meet the Inspector General of Police, Douglas Kanja, next week to operationalise the directive by president William Ruto to strengthen the Anti-Narcotics Unit with an additional 500 officers, as outlined in his New Year address.
“There is no country that can achieve first-world status when its most productive population is trapped in the grip of alcohol and substance abuse,” he added.
Murkomen further called on county governments to establish at least one rehabilitation centre in every county to support the recovery and reintegration of individuals affected by alcohol and drug abuse.
Plans are under way for the establishment of a strengthened Anti-Narcotics Unit(ANU) within the Directorate of Criminal Investigations (DCI), with capabilities comparable to the elite Anti-Terrorism Police Unit.
The unit’s personnel will be expanded from 200 to 700 officers and equipped with modern surveillance, intelligence, forensic, and financial investigation tools to target high-level drug traffickers and illicit alcohol networks, President William said.
Ruto also emphasised that asset tracing, seizure, and forfeiture would feature prominently in narcotics and illicit alcohol investigations, with recovered assets redirected toward rehabilitation, prevention, and treatment programmes.
Ruto warned that any government official or security officer found colluding with traffickers would be prosecuted and dismissed from service.
Ruto, in his New Year address delivered from Eldoret State Lodge on December 31, declared alcohol and drug abuse a national emergency that threatens public health, national security, productivity, and the social fabric of the country.
He noted alarming statistics showing that one in six Kenyans aged 15-65 uses at least one substance of abuse, with over 4.7 million people affected, and that initiation into harmful use often begins in the teenage years.
“This crisis demands decisive national action,” Ruto said, unveiling a comprehensive government strategy to confront the menace through enforcement, prevention, and multi-agency cooperation.
Authorities have in the past three months mounted operations targeting drugs and alcohol across the country. Several suspects were arrested and arraigned while tones of drugs as well as alcohol were destroyed.
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