Man arrested for assaulting chief during illicit brew crackdown

A middle-aged man is being held at Bomet Police Station after he allegedly assaulted a chief and two police officers during an illicit brew crackdown that was carried out in Kamenwo Village, Bomet County.

Bomet Township chief Reuben Ngetich says the suspect had resisted arrest and refused to hand over the 40 litres of chang’aa he was selling.

The man is said to have threatened to slash the female chief, who was in a company of two law enforcers, before fleeing the scene.

Police managed to arrest him and will be arraigned in court on Monday.

In mid-February, President Uhuru Kenyatta ordered for a second phase of the much publicised illicit brew crackdown.

In early March, the second phase of the war against illicit brew took shape, with the government banning the sale of molasses and yeast in the Mt. Kenya region.

Interior Principal Secretary Karanja Kibicho said the government will not allow any further sale of molasses and yeast because the two are the main ingredients in the production of the banned brews.

In mid-March, Kibicho publicly fired chiefs and assistant chiefs who had slept on the job by allowing illicit brew to be sold in their jurisdictions.