Child drinkers blamed for crimes

Most cases of muggings and petty crimes in Kawangware are carried out by youngsters who abuse alcohol, according to a government report.

A survey done by a state agency, the National Authority Against Alcohol and Drugs Abuse (Nacada), on underage drinking trends established that drunk high school students have been linked to crimes.

Such crimes include muggings along Kawangware Primary School’s perimeter wall and rape in Dandora.

The worrying statistics come at a time when it is emerging that estate bars routinely sell alcohol to minors despite the law expressly forbidding admittance of children into bars and nightclubs.

Stern warning

Police have now issued a stern warning to bar owners who flout the rules that they risk arrest and prosecution.

Geofrey Moni, a chief in Dagoretti, told www.nation.co.ke that young people who live alone were more prone to alcohol abuse than those still under parental guidance.

“With very small housing units, most of these young men rent single-roomed houses after primary school, because they cannot continue to sleep with their siblings in a one-bedroomed flat,” he said.
According to the Nacada statistics, students whose fathers used alcohol were more than twice as likely to drink compared to students whose fathers didn’t drink.

Close to half of all the sampled students had used or experimented with alcohol at least once in the past, with 39 per cent of students having began drinking at home, 24 per cent in bars and 23 per cent at a friend’s place.