Save our sons! Women in Uhurus Gatundu backyard plead

Women from Gatundu South in Kiambu County are back in the limelight protesting over the increasing number of bars within their shopping centers.

The women, some of whom are wives and mothers, claim that the bars tempt youths to start drinking as early as 7am.

By the time the boys leave, they are so drunk that they are unable to help themselves, they added.

“We have tried approaching bar owners to tell them to follow the law but they are so rude. We do not know what to do now because the administration has failed to help to us, ” one female resident lamented.

The women from Ituramiro, Gaitete and Gacharage villages told Citizen Digital that there are apparently 20 bars operating within the main shopping centre.

In March, Interior Cabinet Secretary Fred Matiang’i ordered that all bars in Kiambu County be closed after women held protests.

They pleaded with President Uhuru Kenyatta to help save their marriages which they claimed were breaking down because of their husbands’ alcoholism.

Meanwhile, the Kiambu County Government is in the process of issuing fresh licences to bar owners in a bid to stop the sale of illicit brews.

The Kiambu County Alcoholic Drinks Control Act, 2017 was formulated to regulate the manufacture, sale and consumption of alcohol in Central Kenya region.

A majority of residents link the rising number of bars to escalating cases of crime in the area.