Six more in hospital for consuming illicit liquor

Six more people have been admitted to Thika Level Five hospital, with two of them in the Intensive Care Unit (ICU), after consuming illicit brew in Kiambu’s Kiandutu slums.

This brings the number of those admitted to nine since Tuesday.

Five people have already died after consuming the brew that is believed to have been brewed locally.

The tragedy has resulted to a blame game between the NACADA boss John Mututho and the County Government of Kiambu over the manner in which it (Kiambu) is handling the killer brews.

Mututho lashed out at the Kiambu County Government for issuing licenses to manufacturers without following due processes leading to tragedies while the responsibility of licensing lies squarely on NACADA.

Mututho added that the money collected by county government through licensing should be channelled to NACADA since it is not meant for building roads and other county projects.

Kiambu county Chief of Staff Dominic Gicheru, however, pointed an accusing finger to NACADA saying that it has been riddled with corruption and unable to deal with illicit liquor.

Gicheru argued that the money collected by the county government on alcohol licensing is used in constructing rehabilitation centres for victims and facilitating both county and national governments outreach programmes to address the rising cases of illicit brews.

He says that the county government has intensified war against illicit brews adding that NACADA should be abolished and all the money allocated to it distributed to all counties since it has never held any operation against illicit liquor.