MP Mukunji challenges CS Murkomen to crack down on Kenya's illicit alcohol cartels

Interior Cabinet Secretary Kipchumba Murkomen is being challenged to step up the war on illicit liquor, which has been described as a serious threat to future generations, given the scale of the crisis in the country.

Manyatta MP Gitonga Mukunji yesterday regretted that one of the weakest links is in the security forces and called on Interior Ministry to urgently intensify enforcement operations against illicit alcohol manufacturing dens in every county, working with county administrators, chiefs and the National Police Service.

“I urge the State to treat this matter with the urgency it deserves and take decisive action to protect both the lives of our young people and the integrity of our democracy,” Mukunji said.

He also demanded the deployment of the Directorate of Criminal Investigations (DCI) to trace and dismantle the financing networks and cartels behind illicit alcohol production and distribution, rather than pursuing only small-scale brewers while the financiers remain untouched.

The MP also demanded that the Ministry works with Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission (IEBC), Office of the Director of Public Prosecutions (ODPP) as well as Ethics and Anti-Corruption Commission (EACC) to develop a joint framework for reporting, monitoring, investigating and prosecuting the use of alcohol and bribery as tools of voter manipulation

He further called upon leaders, including political ones, to commit, refuse and publicly reject the use of alcohol or any other inducement in their own campaigns, and to hold parties and agents to the same standard.

“We support the Kenya Young Parliamentarians Association in rolling out a cross-county youth engagement and awareness drive, leveraging the fact that members under this Association represent constituencies home to the bulk of Kenya’s 18-35 population, to ensure this fight is led by the very generation it seeks to protect,” he said in a press conference held in Parliamenton Wednesday.

Mukunji also urged MPs to support the strengthening of legislation targeting the manufacture, distribution, and sale of illicit alcohol, including stiffer penalties for producers and distributors who target minors and youth.

According to Mukunji, MPs also have a task to champion increased budgetary allocation to community-based rehabilitation, youth empowerment, and public awareness programmes in their respective constituencies.

Mukunji, who is the chairperson of the Kenya Young Parliamentarians Association, said young people are consuming illicitly brewed and adulterated liquor in alarming quantities across constituencies, from urban informal settlements to rural centres.

“These brews are known to be laced with dangerous substances, some of which cause blindness, organ failure, and death. We are seeing the devastating consequences in our communities: the loss of young lives, broken families, addiction, reduced productivity, crime and the destruction of livelihoods,” he said.

He made reference to his constituency, saying that Kangaru residents are mourning the loss of four young people to illicit brew.

Other than lives lost, he noted that the economic cost of this crisis is a fiscal emergency in its own right as the country continues losing billions in legitimate revenue when illegal manufacturers and distributors evade taxation and flooding markets with adulterated products.

“Every time an illegal industry is allowed to flourish because of corruption, weak enforcement, or political protection, public trust in government is eroded. Illicit alcohol now accounts for an estimated 59 per cent of all alcohol consumed by volume in Kenya, and the illegal alcohol economy is estimated to have cost the Exchequer approximately Sh71 billion in lost revenue in 2022 alone,” he regretted.

Mukunji said the money lost should be building hospitals, funding university scholarships, expanding Constituency Development Fund (CDF), Uwezo, Hustler Fund, and paying teachers and nurses.

But it is being lost to cartels who profit from the addiction and death of youth while the State is left to absorb the healthcare costs, the lost tax revenue, and the lost productivity of a generation unable to work at full capacity.

His remarks come just days after MPs questioned the measures that the Government has taken to address growing proliferation of adulterated alcoholic drinks in the country, as debate on substandard liquor lingers.

Samburu West MP Naisula Lesuuda last week sought a statement from the National Assembly Committee on Administration and Internal Security regarding the proliferation of adulterated alcohol drinks, amid increased reports of unscrupulous individuals purportedly engaging in the production, distribution and sale of adulterated alcoholic beverages.

Lesuuda said these adulterated alcoholic drinks expose unsuspecting customers to serious health risks, including permanent disabilities and loss of life.