Deputy President Kithure Kindiki (Centre) at Chaka, where he inspected development projects accompanied by Nyeri leaders on September 25, 2026/ ALICE WAITHERADeputy President Kithure Kindiki has declared a crackdown on substandard alcoholic drinks, which he described as poisonous, amid concerns over their impact on the health of young people in Mt Kenya and parts of the country.
Kindiki said he had convened a meeting bringing together security agencies and regulators to strengthen the fight against alcoholic drinks that fail to meet required health and safety standards.
The meeting will bring together officials from the Ministry of Interior, Kenya Revenue Authority (KRA), Anti-Counterfeit Authority and Kenya Bureau of Standards (KEBS), among other agencies, in an effort to tighten controls on the manufacture and sale of alcoholic drinks.
“We cannot accept poisonous alcoholic drinks that are affecting the lives and health of our young people here in Mt Kenya and across the country,” Kindiki said.
While addressing Chaka residents in Nyeri County as he inspected development projects, Kindiki said the agencies would be required to ensure alcoholic drinks reaching consumers meet prescribed safety and quality standards.
The move comes amid concerns over alcohol abuse in Central Kenya, where affordability, availability and consumption of illicit and low-cost alcoholic drinks have been identified as major challenges.
The 2022 National Survey on the Status of Drugs and Substance Use by the National Authority for the Campaign Against Alcohol and Drug Abuse (NACADA) recorded an alcohol-use-disorder prevalence of 9.9 per cent in the Central region, translating to about 337,723 people aged 15 to 65.
The region also recorded a 4.1 per cent prevalence of potable-spirit use, the highest among the regions covered by the survey. About 1.36 million people aged 15 to 65 were reported to be addicted to alcohol nationally.
The meeting is expected to lay out strategies on how to close gaps that allow unsafe drinks to reach consumers.
He said the fight would focus on ensuring that beverages sold to the public comply with health and quality requirements.
His predecessor, impeached Deputy President Rigathi Gachagua, carried out a massive crackdown in the region in 2023, ordering the closure of hundreds of brewing dens, before he took the fight to other regions.
The Deputy President also appealed for an end to personal attacks among leaders, saying he was willing to forgive those who had criticised or insulted him.
“There’s no day that I despised them when they were in leadership but I have said before elders and I repeat before the people that I forgive my brothers, with a clean heart,” he said.
Kindiki maintained that he would no longer respond to personal attacks, saying his focus was on defending and uniting communities in Mt Kenya and across the country.
“My role is defending the community, uniting the community here in Mt Kenya and Kenya, because the position I hold is a position for the whole nation of Kenya,” he said.
His declaration received the support of Energy PS Alex Wachira, who said alcoholism has been a thorn in the flesh of locals for decades.
“We thank you that you have called for a meeting on Monday to address this issue so we can eliminate counterfeit alcohol in the region and the country.”
