New law on alcohol yet to be enforced

Internal Security minister George Saitoti on Friday directed the police to arrest those found drinking chang’aa and other illicit brews despite the lifting of a ban on them.

Prof Saitoti said although President Kibaki had assented to the Alcoholic Drinks Control Act 2010, it will only come into force by a notice published in the “Gazette by my office stipulating the date when the Act comes into effect”.

“Until the Act comes into operation, the status quo as regards alcohol remains. As such, the Liquor Licensing Act and the Chang’aa Prohibition Act continues to be in force,” Prof Saitoti told a press conference at his office.

Permanent secretary Francis Kimemia and National Campaign Against Drug Abuse national co-ordinator Jenniffer Kimani were also present.

The minister said law enforcement officers “will therefore continue enforcing those laws vigorously”. “I urge the law enforcement officers to continue the crackdown on illicit brewing and consumption that we started during the Rapid Results Initiative,” Prof Saitoti said.

He said the new Act requires a legal framework to be put in place to facilitate its implementation and that his ministry was working on it.

It includes processes and standards for distillation, packaging and sale of local liquors, permissible levels of constituents of alcoholic drinks and methods to be used in testing alcoholic drinks for conformity with laid-down standards.

Other aspects are information that manufacturers and importers shall provide on product composition, ingredients, hazardous properties and brand elements, and provision of harmful ingredients of alcoholic drinks that have caused deaths and blindness in numerous cases.

The Act prohibits selling of alcohol to persons below 18 years and those found doing so will be fined Sh500,000 or face up to three years in jail or both.