NAIROBI, Kenya, Feb 17 – Government officials have been barred from operating liquor outlets in a new policy directive.
Speaking in Kirinyaga during the mass burial of 17 people who died after consuming ethanol-laced alcohol, deputy president cited a conflict of interest.
He explained further that some government officials were involved in the bar business, a factor he stated contributed to the menace.
“If someone wants to open a bar, let him resign. We cannot allow that. I don’t think it is fair for officers to engage in business that clearly is a conflict of interests,” he said.
The deputy president also seized the moment to call on the judiciary to do their work in holding people responsible for crimes such as selling of illicit brews held to account.
He alleged that the individuals who sell the illicit brews in Mount Kenya region are granted fines that are not commensurate to their crimes thus giving them the leeway to continue selling the illicit brews that continue to claim the lives of many youths in the region.
This, he maintained, was reversing the gains made in the war against illicit brew.
” I want to appeal to our Chief Justice to talk to magistrates and judges not to allow more deaths in this country,” added the deputy president.