Piece by: LINDWE DANFLOW

14 April 2023

• Gachagua says most families ares struggling as their fathers and son's have become alcoholics.

• Most people engage in drinking illicit drinks.

Deputy President Rigathi Gachagua has said mothers have decried the menace of alcoholism and illicit brews.

He said he was embarrassed by the words the women tell him.

"Our youth are finished, instead of sleeping on the bed they are sleeping on the floor," he said.

He said that even in schools one will find the classrooms empty as there are no children.

"Because this ethanol comes while it is mixed, inamaliza all the systems kwa hii vijana wetu. All the batteries are down ata ikiekwa charge it cannot pick. So, our women are crying," he said.

To combat the menace, Gachagua said the government will set up mechanisms and strategies to put an end to the menace starting from the Central region and that it will set the pace for the rest of the country.

Gachagua was speaking on Friday in Nyeri at a meeting to address the issue of illicit brew consumption.

"After this meeting, it will not be business as usual, we must do the right thing, we must implement the law, and we must live up to the oath of office. We can not be part of the criminal syndicate that is selling drugs to our children," Gachagua said.

He said the police and chiefs ought to do their work of putting an end to the menace and not collaborate with drug peddlers.

Gachagua said it can't be that those who have been mandated to deal with the menace are the ones helping the drug peddlers.

He said anyone that stands between the government from dealing with the menace must give way as the matter has received attention at the highest level of government.

One of the ways of undermining the President is being in cohort with the people who are selling drugs, those protecting alcohol that is killing our people, by going to collect commissions and tokens every week from drug peddlers," he said.