Governors lobby to gain control of local brew sector

By STANDARD TEAM

Kenya: Liquor brewers in Central Kenya should brace themselves for major changes as the Provincial Administration prepares to handover outlet licensing to county governments.

Governors are already lobbying to have the Alcoholic Drinks Control Act amended to remove the role of Provincial Administration of chairing the liquor licensing board.

“This Act is a contravention of the Constitution which gives county governments powers to issue licences for the businesses,” said a county government official in Nyeri privy to the plan to have the Act amended.

With able-bodied populations accused of overindulging in alcohol consumption in most of the former Central Province, liquor-licensing courts moved in to tighten licensing of drinking dens.

They closed thousands of bars and left many shopping centres without single outlets. Last year, the Provincial Administration announced that bars had been reduced by 2,000 in the last few years but alcohol consumption remained high in the area. Licensing of outlets will soon fall directly under the county governments, most of which have moved to claim what one District Officer describes as “previously our most lucrative undertaking”.

Kirinyaga Governor Joseph Ndathi, who signalled an intention to tighten licensing and rid the process of corruption, said county governments would control the regime once the Alcoholic Drinks Control Act 2010 is amended and licensing delinked from the Provincial Administration.

Density of outlets

In Murang’a County, Governor Mwangi wa Iria and Senator Kembi Gitura promised the public would be involved in regulating the kind of liquor sold and density of outlets.

Mr Wa Iria said there was need to have laws regulating the alcohol industry, blaming it for lost academic and developmental glory.  Speaking separately, the two Murang’a leaders said there was need to rein in on cheap brew. “The county government and assembly will formulate laws and policies aimed at barring certain brands of liquor from being sold in the region,” said the Governor.

Mr Gitura, in a recent meeting with the National Agency for the Campaign against Drug Abuse, said it emerged they were worried about county governments being keen to raise revenue by liberally licensing liquor operators.

In Kirinyaga County, a provincial administrator said the liquor licensing courts set for this month would be the last to be chaired by the provincial administrators. But Ndathi warned that his government might revoke any new licences issued.

The administrator said he was alarmed by the significant rise in the number of those applying for licences to manufacture second-generation liquor, which was allowed by the Mututho law. This has been a multi-million business in Kirinyaga but until 2009, there was only one such manufacturer who used to enjoy a virtual monopoly and minted millions of shillings.

Today, there are over 10 manufacturers operating from Kirinyaga, which boasts of being second only to Naivasha in terms of manufacture and distribution of second-generation brews.

 “Once you are in this business, within a year, your lifestyle changes dramatically since the cost of inputs is minimal while the returns are high,” says one such manufacturer on condition of anonymity.

District liquor licensing courts chaired by the respective district commissioners, now assistant county commissioners, were established last year for all the 38 districts in the former Central province but members are just rubberstamps, according to a former long-serving member.

The ex-member claimed that DCs usually went ahead and granted licences after convening ‘special’ boards to review applications rejected by the full court.  Other members are the district (or municipal) Public Health Officer, the local OCPD, the District Administration Police Commander, a representative of the relevant local authority and three members of the public.

Bar operators in Nyeri paid an average of Sh7,000 for the annual council trade licence, Sh1,300 to the Public Health Officer, a Sh1,000 liquor court board meeting application fee and Sh7,000 Catering Levy Trustee fee. Successful applicants then pay annual liquor fees depending on the category of their outlets.

-Reports by Wainaina Ndung’u, Boniface Gikandi and Munene Kamau