Dear Mr President, we shall not cure alcohol abuse by breaking the law

I am sure that President Uhuru Kenyatta is aware that the days of presidential directives are over.

Kenyans fought long and hard for a new constitution because they had suffered under imperial presidencies where the president’s word became law and “roadside directives” often led to the abuse of human rights and the curtailment of freedoms.

Everyone agrees that young people in the former Central Province and other parts of the country are being wasted and even killed by illicit brews manufactured under dubious conditions.

No one is saying that those who brew these drinks that often lead to death and disability should not be prosecuted or banned from operating.

However, the callous and illegal way in which these breweries (some of which, it appears, were legitimate and had all the required licences) were destroyed was a sign that Kenyans are still capable — despite a new Constitution — of breaking the law with impunity if they perceive that their leaders support their actions.

This is very frightening indeed. It means that leaders can mobilise people to do anything, even if it is illegal or unconstitutional.

History is replete with leaders who ordered people to violate human rights. Not too long ago, a charismatic and highly popular leader called Adolf Hitler ordered Germans to exterminate Jews.

Historians, sociologists, and psychologists are still trying to figure out how this man convinced an entire nation to commit or condone mass murder. It is one of the great mysteries of the 20th century, along with the Rwandan genocide of 1994.

The breakdown of law and order is the first sign that a country is on the brink of conflict. It happened in Uganda, Rwanda, and Somalia.

In Kenya, leaders’ directives have, in the past, led to the assassination and torture of people deemed to be opposed to the government.

In the Rift Valley, ethnic cleansing became the norm during every election, culminating in the 2007/8 post-election violence in which innocent people were killed, raped, and expelled.

In more recent months, ethnic Somalis have suffered “collective punishment” at the hands of the State despite the fact that many Al-Shabaab terrorists are non-Somali Kenyans.

Tomorrow, who knows, another group could be targeted. Can we feel safe in such a society?

Criminalising alcoholics is not the way to go either. As any member of Alcoholics Anonymous will tell you, alcoholism is a disease that has several causes, some social, some genetic, some psychological.

The problem in central Kenya and other places where young men waste away their lives in alcohol is that young people are not sufficiently engaged in productive activities, either because they are unemployed or under-employed, as there are not enough recreational facilities to distract or occupy them or because their communities have broken down socially and are unable to provide good role models or mentors.
As a speaker on one TED talk pointed out, “The opposite of addiction is not sobriety; the opposite of addiction is connection.”

If we want Kenyans to drink less, let us address these causes and let us establish rehabilitation centres in every health facility so that those who need help get it for free. Let us also examine our society and see the fault lines that threaten to turn us into a nation of addicts.

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On a related topic, it is disturbing that instead of focusing on things that really matter to ordinary Kenyans — like the high cost of living, unemployment, corruption, insecurity and terrorism — Deputy President William Ruto has decided that Kenyans need to wage a war on homosexuals.

As far as I know, Kenyans are not particularly concerned about whether people are gay or not. We do not have the kind of frenzied homophobia prevalent in places such as Uganda and Zimbabwe; we have other bigger issues to deal with.

Homosexuals are not the cause of Kenyans’ problems; scapegoating them will not solve these problems nor reduce the prevalence of homosexuality in our society.

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