About 80 brewing firms have been closed in the last one year, says CS

NAIVASHA:  At least 80 alcohol manufacturing companies have been closed in the last one year after they failed to meet the requisite standards.

Industrialisation Cabinet Secretary Adan Mohamed said the companies were shut down following investigations that revealed their products did not meet the required quality.

Mr Mohamed said his ministry was working closely with stakeholders in the brewing sector to ensure high standards are maintained.

"We have learnt the hard way and the Kenya Bureau of Standards has come up with guidelines that should be followed by those manufacturing alcohol," he said.

Among the measures the Government has taken, the Cabinet Secretary said, were having manufacturers set up proper laboratories with qualified staff to check on chemicals in their products.

He said many Kenyans had lost their lives after taking illicit brews, noting that the mistakes that were made in regulation of the sector had been rectified.

Mohamed said the ministry had introduced mechanisms where the importation of methane would be checked at all points of entry to the country.

He said the substance would be denatured to make it unfit for alcohol manufacturers to use in their products.

"This is a process where imported methane is made bitter so that it is not used to make alcohol, but only for its industrial use," he said.

The Cabinet Secretary was speaking when he commissioned the new Sh2.5 billion expanded brewing plant at Keroche Breweries in Naivasha.

He said the Government had created a conducive environment for investors.

Mohamed said his ministry was working closely with the Kenya Private Sector Alliance and the Kenya National Chamber of Commerce and Industry where emerging issues in investments are usually addressed.

"We want to reduce the costs of setting up a business in Kenya as well as the cost of doing business, to make Kenya an investor-friendly country," he said.

Keroche Breweries CEO Tabitha Karanja said the plant, built using the latest technology, had the capacity to produce 600,000 bottles of beer in a day, up from 60,000.

She called for fair playing ground in the brewing sector, adding that the issue of monopoly was still in some players' minds.

Naivasha MP John Kihagi praised the new venture, adding that plans were underway to open an industrial park in the town.