Alcoholism not just Mt Kenya's problem

NAIROBI: Thank God President Uhuru Kenyatta, or someone around him, had the presence of mind to widen the scope of the war on alcohol abuse beyond the ridges of Mount Kenya region, because this disaster knows no political or ethnic boundaries.

It also seems that the main grievance of the MPs against illicit and non-illicit drinks is that they have neutered young men, nursery schools are closing because of poor enrolment, and future 'voters' are being born in lesser frequency than ever in the history of the region.

I have also had occasion to listen to my friends from the region, including a Deputy Governor friend, lament that the alcohol sold in Central appears to be laden with chemicals that stifle man's desires.

"You see bars and lodgings used to go together, but in Central now, young men stay away from their wives, and even prefer to sleep in trenches rather than the matrimonial bed, where there will be pressure for them to perform", my friend told me the other day.

After the visit to State House on Wednesday, Embu Senator Lenny Kivuti appeared on a TV programme with Gatundu South MP Moses Kuria who he reminded that Embu has had a higher death toll.

But Mr Kuria declared that since the National Agency for Alcohol and Drug Abuse (whose board is chaired by John Muthuto) had failed and the President had said as much, and given that the police are co-conspirators in this 'business of death', then what a relief that State House had put the police and public administrators under MPs! If what Mr Kuria is saying is not a fallacy, then nothing is!

This is just as close to the claim by Mr Muthuto that Central gets specifically treated alcohol whose potent agent drives a wedge between men and women in carrying out the God-ordained task of procreation. From the foregoing, there is serious need to interrogate alcohol abuse in Kenya and thereafter draw our own conclusions.

First, the political class is the least equipped or independent to help in this fight since they are part of the problem.

The derelicts who smell and ooze alcoholic fumes in the morning are the politicians' voting machines. They are the enforcers of the MPs' interests in the villages, legal and extra-judicial.

No, when the war on these drinks gets painful and politically 'expensive', you will hear them saying police should go slow on 'vijana wetu' (our youth). That is exactly what happened in the war against Mungiki!

Secondly, let us not delude ourselves that the problem is 'illicit brews'!

This is because first, alcohol is just that, a dangerous chemical to body organs, spirit and even mind.

Many are the high-ranking people who we know would have stopped embarrassing themselves with drunkenness if it was that easy to stop partaking.

Thirdly, we seem to be condemning illicit brews as the evil, meaning the rest are good for our health and should be used as substitutes for the milk we take. No, a good programme on ending alcohol abuse does not start and end with destruction of the filthy drinking joints we blame in Central and other parts of the country, as will happen from today.

No, that it just the beginning, but remember as one MP claimed, in so short a time for example, the Kiambu County government has licensed 2,000 new bars! I can assure you, in case you have not tried to run one, that the bar business is the confluence of the greed for money by the licensing and policing agents!

For selling alcohol is a "business of death'', from which everyone eats; from the chief to the AP constable; the County Commissioner to the MCA and even some governors!

This is the fourth point that we must put forth to disabuse the President and Central Kenya MPs that flattening the present selling joints will on its own address the problem! No, the merchants will just go underground.

Or even that the problem is more serious in Central. My friends, Rift Valley is the incubation centre and if you have been there lately, you will realise a new phenomenon on the roads in almost all the shopping centres; speed bumps, some made using loose soil and sharp rock boulders. These are meant to protect our cows, school-going children and other pedestrians from speeding cars. I also suspect that they are meant to protect "our drunks".

Finally, there is a layer of religious and non-governmental crews who have discovered how to make money through advocacy programmes whose operations are grossly exaggerated and the monies shared out like sweets from Father Christmas! This goes right up to Nacada boardrooms. Remember the tale Jaguar shared with us last week after he got in there.

Alcohol trade indeed is one big bash with many salivating mouths; and so the solution goes beyond presidential decrees. No, my friends, the problem is far much much bigger than the congregation of Mount Kenya MPs who met Mr Kenyatta for lunch on Wednesday.