Kirinyaga Bar Owners Respond to Gachagua after Directive on Licencing

Proprietors of drinking joints have weighed on the directive by Deputy President Rigathi Gachagua to regulate their businesses.

Speaking in Murang'a county the previous week, the deputy president had expressed distress on noting many youths in Mt Kenya had resorted to imbibing alcohol full-time.

Gachagua observed that the menace was morphing into a disaster and would rob the youngsters of their futures if there would be no interventions.

He therefore sanctioned the administrators in all the counties across the Mt Kenya region to crack down on the drinking dens and other social joints and license a selected few.

To eradicate alcoholism in the region, the deputy president called for the one-town, one-bar arrangement, as one of the decisive measures.

The above proposal would not however sit well with the businessmen; they argue it is aimed at stifling their ventures which they argue they have built for years.

They further argued that effecting the move would see many youths lose employment.

"The call for reducing the bars and restaurants is ill-willed. The deputy president should know that it is ill-advised to call for the unemployment of the youths who earn their living from such establishments. We are not going to accept his proposal,"

"The Kenyan constitution allows everyone to partake in business so long as the law is observed. The thought of having pubs and restaurants far apart will not be practical. Our customers would not want to walk for kilometers to look for a joint," said Anthony Waweru, the head of bar owners in Kirinyaga.

They however vowed to bolster the government in its fight against illicit liquor.