Can’t keep up: Nakuru County struggles to enforce liquor law
Former Nakuru Governor Kinuthia Mbugua (centre) signs into law the Alcoholic Drinks Control Bill on January 1, 2015. Despite the enactment of the legislation five years ago, there are still challenges in collecting liquor revenue in Nakuru. PHOTO | FILE | NATION MEDIA GROUP
What you need to know:
The Act was to help the county collect licensing fees and boost its local revenue.
According to the latest Auditor General's report, the county is owed a whooping Sh66.9 million liquor license arrears.
The law, also meant to regulate the production, sale, distribution and consumption of alcoholic drinks has failed to curb the sale and consumption of illicit brews in most parts of the county.
In Molo alone several people have died in the past months, due to consumption of lethal brews.
Despite Nakuru enacting a legislation five years ago that sought to enable the county government tap millions of shillings in liquor fees, there are still challenges in collecting liquor revenue.
In 2015, the county assembly passed the Nakuru Alcoholic Drinks Control Act that was to, among other things, help the county collect licensing fees and boost its local revenue.
The law further paved way for introduction of a directorate of liquor control to enforce the law and determine procedures of licensing alcohol related businesses.
The directorate was meant to oversee the issuance of licenses to bars, nightclubs, discotheques and hotels. Its other functions were among others, to carry out public education on alcoholic drinks control in the county and to advise the executive in its exercise of powers in regard to the manufacture and sale of alcoholic drinks.
STAGGERING FAILURE
However, years later the county government is still grappling with arrears of liquor license fees it is owed.
According to the latest Auditor General report, for the financial year 2017/18, the county is owed a whooping Sh66.9 million liquor license arrears.
The report indicates that the county executive was not collecting the arrears and was not issuing demand notices to traders to clear the outstanding balances, thus denying the county the much needed revenue for budgeted and approved projects.
LAME-DUCK LAW
The law that was also to regulate the production, sale, distribution and consumption of alcoholic drinks also seems not to have yielded much as various parts of the county are still weighed down by sale and consumption of lethal illegal brews.
The law also gave residents powers to petition for the removal of chiefs who fail to fight illicit drinks.
For instance, last week while on a tour of Molo Constituency, Governor Lee Kinyanjui raised concerns over the increased consumption of illicit brews in Elburgon and Molo, which he said threatens to destroy the future of the young generation.
“As a county government we will cancel the licenses of bar owners and traders involved in the sale of lethal brews," he said.
The county chief directed relevant bodies to look into the matter.
LETHAL TREND
In Molo alone, several people have died in the past months due to consumption of lethal brews.
This points to a county still bedevilled by ever increasing sale and consumption of lethal brews despite the existence of a law to tame the trend.
Licensing of alcoholic drinks joints in the county, still remains heavily saddled with multiple challenges, most of them triggered by conflict of interest between regulators seeking to expand revenue streams and thousands of licensees seeking to earn a living.
This has left thousands of youth caught in the middle.
Previously, before the licensing function was devolved, the National Authority for Campaign Against Drug Abuse collected the fees.
