Farewell to killer brew victims

Hundreds of mourners attended the requiem Mass for 40 of the 43 people who died after drinking adulterated alcohol in Embu Town’s Shauri Yako slums last week.

The mourners at Embu Stadium watched tearfully as the inter-denominational prayers proceeded.

The brew, locally known as Kasafuria, has killed more than 90 people countrywide.

Eastern County Commissioner Claire Omollo demonstrated the effects of adulterated alcohol by taking a sample of the lethal drink and dropping an animal’s kidney from a nearby slaughter house.

The kidneys turned from red to light grey on contact with the liquor.

Ms Omollo at the same time announced that each of the affected families would receive Sh50,000 to help them start an income generating venture.

“It is a sad day for this region. We have lost 73 people to the brew. It is a big blow to the country since most were still active and major source of labour,” said Ms Omollo.

Nacada chairman John Mututho said any manufacturer of alcoholic beverages without a certificate from his organisation would be arrested if found distributing the products.

Mr Mututho said manufacturers were supposed to supply their stockists with the clearance letter from Nacada.

He said only Kenya Breweries had complied with the new set of regulations introduced last week.

“Anybody selling liquor must have a letter from the manufacturer.

The manufacturer must also have a licence from Nacada. Only Kenya Breweries has complied. Even Kenya Wines Agencies has not,” he said.

Leaders called for strict enforcement of alcohol laws to ensure liquor sold was fit for consumption.

Senator Lenny Kivuti, Deputy Governor Dorothy Nditi and MPs John Muchiri, Rose Mitaru and Mutava Musyimi attended.

They said youth joblessness and poverty were the main reason many young people were resorting to drinking.

The Reverend Mutava Musyimi, who is the Parliamentary Budget Committee chairman said Sh1.4 billion had been proposed in the budgetary estimates, for allocation to all the constituencies to start youth polytechnic in a bid to absorb students who didn’t proceed to secondary school.

He said each constituency would receive Sh5 million to set up the institution in a bid to woo youths.

“Many youths are disillusioned because of lack of jobs and somewhere to hone their skills.

Those who dropped out of Class 8 should get some place to be absorbed. The poor usually don’t get a chance of proceeding,” he said.

Mr Kivuti called for increased funding to the counties to help them create jobs for youths.

“The counties should receive more funds for their job creation initiatives. Village polytechnics should be strengthened to offer better skills and absorb more youths,” he said.

He challenged the Embu County Assembly to quickly draft laws that would curb excessive drinking, and entry of alcoholic drinks that were not regulated by Nacada.

Mr Kivuti said it was wrong for Nacada to talk tough only when numerous deaths occurred saying many more lives were being lost daily but went unreported.

“Let us not wait until people die in large numbers and talk about this. Many people are dying slowly and quietly. We may not have taken notice because they are not paraded like we’ve done here.

We urge the County Assembly to push for enactment of a bill that will end these deaths,” he appealed.

Mr Muchiri whose Manyatta constituency lost 33 persons, said alcohol was a major disaster affecting the youth and called for construction of rehabilitation centres in every constituency to restore youths languishing due to it.

He called for a probe on whether Embu Level-Five hospital medics acted swiftly to save lives of those who arrived at the institution on time.

“I am a member of the health committee and there has been a concern over whether the hospital took good care of the patients.

I was talking to some who appeared well only to find them dead the following day,” mourned Mr Muchiri.