Address causes, not symptoms to win war against alcoholism

There are likely to be more liquor outlets than schools and churches per square kilometre in most parts of Kenya. That is the reality that we must contend with. Alcoholism is a problem that even transcends our political divide and must be tackled.

President Uhuru Kenyatta set the ball rolling when he berated legislators from the Central Kenya region last week and ordered them to ensure all illicit brew outlets were closed and owners arrested. Cases of fatalities after imbibing poisonous alcohol have been on the rise. A report by the National Authority for the Control of Alcohol and Drug Abuse (Nacada) indicates 6,000 people die annually from alcohol-related ailments.

More than 12 per cent of youngsters aged between 15 and 24 are alcoholics. Further, 2.5 million people require rehabilitation, but the cost is prohibitive. But even as we seek to tame alcoholism in the country, we must also endeavour to isolate the causes of alcoholism and deal with them. No doubt, a majority of people who have immersed themselves in the vice are those who have lost hope; they have nothing worthwhile to live for.

This largely stems from rampant unemployment which, having limited people in their choices, forces them to seek refuge in the concoctions that not only deepen their woes, but often lead to death. Sadly, in some places, men spend more time in bars than at home with family. They are strangers to their children, whom they rarely interact with. There are rising cases of indiscipline among the youth because they lack father figures and mother figures. |All have fallen under the spell of killer brews. Drug abuse, like alcoholism, is on the increase and the biggest users are the youth aged between 15 and 25 years.

Nacada has proven to be ineffectual in the war against alcoholism. If the Government must hold onto it, it must be given more powers. Nacada should, for instance, have the authority to approve the importation of the industrial chemical methanol which is being used to adulterate local brews. That would help in knowing who holds onto what quantities of methanol and how it is used.

The Government must also keep tabs on Formalin, a chemical used in morgues for preserving bodies, and establish how it ends up forming part of the recipe for illicit brews. Two other institutions deserving of attention are the Kenya Revenue Authority and Kenya Bureau of Standards (Kebs). It is outrageous that Kebs gave some of the killer brews its seal of approval.

The Alcoholic Drinks Control Act 2010 restricts bars to operate between 5pm and 11pm. Research by Euromonitor International revealed more than 26 million litres of alcohol were consumed in December 2012 alone outside the curfew hours because drinkers opted to stock their homes with liquor to beat the curfew. It therefore goes to show that the knee-jerk reactions we are given to are minor inconveniences that hardened drinkers easily overcome.

The tragedy of having put politicians in a vanguard role in the war against illicit brews is that with their vested selfish interests, they end up using the mob mentality. In their zeal to score political points, some MPs ended up vandalising legitimate businesses. East African Breweries Limited is reported to have lost over Sh3.4 million when its beer was destroyed in Othaya.

There must be order in the way the war is fought, barring which the Government will end up with expensive legal suits and a jittery business community.