Administrators and police asleep as youths drink themselves silly

Something happened on Wednesday that gladdened the hearts of many parents and community leaders in the former Central Province.

A visibly angry President Uhuru Kenyatta read the Riot Act to the region’s political leaders and county administrators who have failed to reduce the brewing, dispensing and consumption of illicit liquor in his backyard.

He has good reasons to be concerned. While these leaders look the other way or concern themselves with trivial pursuits, a whole generation of youth has gone to waste, and the whole region has become “a village of the damned”. The evidence is there for all to see, for the number of drunken zombies staggering all over is proliferating at an alarming rate.

Young men are no longer doing any productive work; nor are they siring offspring, for they can rarely rise to the occasion, and even if they did, they have no means of looking after their families.

Old men and women have been left to till the land, which means that a region that has always been self-sufficient in food production will, at this rate, very soon start relying on food aid and government handouts.

Although no specific research has been carried out on the issue, it can be assumed that the average lifespan in the region has gone down considerably, and if young men hit 40 years these days, it is regarded as a miracle.

This has become a country of prematurely old men who have given up on life and whose relatives celebrate when they die.

Young people have always consumed illegal substances. One of the reasons they do it is that they cannot afford the more expensive alcohol sold in licensed bars. But that is not the only reason. The fact is that these fellows are imbibing stuff that is perhaps 100 per cent more addictive than ordinary alcohol, and so they are becoming hooked too early.

They do not eat well, and they do not even have the time to clean themselves up. The only saving grace is that they are usually too weak to mug, rob or do much more damage than steal chickens and sugarcane, for which they are routinely jailed.

I am convinced that people do not start abusing alcohol merely because it is there. There must be underlying reasons why they choose the path of mindless inebriation, but poverty cannot be one of them, because the poorest regions in this country would be hardest hit, which is not the case.

What, then, explains why the former Central Province, which is certainly not in that category, is the most affected?

How does one explain why the production of killer brews seems to be the only growth industry in the region after the coffee and tea sectors went down the drain?

My contention has always been that the main culprits in this regard are not the drinkers or even brewers; the major villains are the county administrators and police officers who profit from the production and sale of these deadly concoctions.

While it would be unfair to apportion blanket condemnation on these officers, for some are diligent but hampered by lack of logistical support, it is also true that some chiefs and their assistants, and even more senior county officials, have been eating with the criminals. It is not MPs or the GSU who should be fighting this menace; it should be the Administration Police.

As for Nacada, the less said the better. It is time this effete outfit was disbanded.

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Central Bank Governor Patrick Ngugi Njoroge is a truly amazing man. What Kenyan in his position can turn down a mansion in Muthaiga, three top-of-the- range vehicles, security guards, and a motorcade?

This must really baffle a lot of people, for they, including Yours Truly, would not think twice on the matter. It is to be hoped that Dr Njoroge will use the same unorthodoxy to steer the country’s monetary policy, for our economy is in real tatters. However, he should not expect applause from the eating class in this country, for he has set the wrong precedent.

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