Drug Abuse boss John Mututho saves 16 under-age drinkers

There was outrage in Kirinyaga County after school children were caught drinking at a club in Kagio market.

Following the Sunday evening incident, The National Authority for Campaign against Alcohol and Drug Abuse boss John Mututho rushed to the county lateTuesday and secured the release of the children from Baricho court.

He urged parents who had thronged the courtroom not to punish the children but rather have them undergo a two-week rehabilitation process immediately.

"As you take your children with you to your respective homes, I am appealing to you not to antagonise them since they urgently require counselling,"Mututho said.

He said his agency would bring its counselling team to Kagio market where children and their parents would be attended to.

Mututho said he was also aware of similar liquor dens in Voi and Mombasa where unscrupulous traders were selling liquor to under-age children and urged police to move fast and arrest the culprits.

BOYS AND GIRLS

He thanked Baricho Principal Magistrate Evans Keoga for accepting to release the children.

Mututho commended the courts for showing a human face while handling children's issue and hoped this would continue in future.

The 16 children from various secondary schools in and outside the county were arrested after police acted on a tip-off from  the public, according to the Kirinyaga West Sub-County OCPD Chemonges Ndiema.

Ndiema said upon receiving information that under-age children were drinking alcohol at the club, his officers swung into action and arrested the 16.

"There were more than one hundred school boys and girls but most of them escaped upon seeing my officers," Ndiema said.
The officer said the club's proprietor has been arrested and investigations were going on before he is formally charged in court.