Interior CS Kipchumba Murkomen at Bamburi Cement Company in Mombasa on September 24, 2026/ BRIAN OTIENO
Interior CS Kipchumba Murkomen has said the Government will collaborate more with the Judiciary to ensure Kenyans are protected from drugs.
Murkomen said the drug menace is severe in the country and that all must work together to ensure the matter does not get out of hand.
Speaking at Bamburi Cement Company, moments before the destruction of the Sh8.2 billion crystal methamphetamine haul weighing more than one tonne began, the CS said Kenyans must also take part in the fight.
He said Kenyans must report people who engage in the drug trade because they are people who live with them in society.
“Help us protect our children,” he told Kenyans.
“The wider narcotics threat remains great.”
He said narcotics continue moving through Kenya because the country is both a market and a transit state.
Interior CS Kipchumba Murkomen at Bamburi Cement Company in Mombasa on September 24, 2026/ BRIAN OTIENO
He said stronger tools against drug traffickers and barons must be engaged.
“We must match enforcement with prevention, treatment and rehabilitation,” Murkomen said.
The government is in the process of creating 164 drug rehabilitation facilities across the country, with 11 counties having confirmed their willingness to do the same.
He said one in six Kenyans aged between 15 and 45 had used one type of drug or another, indicating the seriousness of the drug menace in the country.
The Coast is among the hardest-hit regions, with Mombasa having the highest prevalence at 34.4 per cent.
“We will hunt down traffickers, but we will not abandon victims of the drugs,” Murkomen said.
He said assets acquired through drug money would be forfeited to the State.
“We are not just taking drugs off the streets, we are taking the profits off the pockets of the beneficiaries,” the CS said.
“If we find you storing drugs or illicit [substances], we will not only destroy the product but we will also take over the land and the factory that you used to process the illicit drugs, brew or substance,” Murkomen said.
He said that was the only way to make the barons and traffickers feel the pinch.
“I really hope the person who was transporting this haul is watching us today,” the CS said.
Murkomen said he had seen what drugs do to the children of people who are well-to-do.
“Even to the people in authority, if you think there is nothing that will happen if we do nothing, our children will suffer,” Murkomen said.
He said any government official found collaborating with drug barons would be dismissed immediately and prosecuted.
Already, some 3,331 people have been arrested in connection with drugs and illicit brew across the country in the last year.
Some 675,535 litres of alcohol have also been seized.
All this, however, requires political will and the cooperation of residents, he said.
