A public participation meeting called
to discuss licensing of bars at the Ol-
Jabet trading Centre in Laikipia County
ended prematurely after rowdy youth
disrupted the function.
The meeting organized by the
County’s Liquour Licencing Board was
meant to engage the public to collect
views on their wish on whether to
allow more bars to operate in the area.
accusations over fresh fighting
However, a section of youth, who
appeared drunk, disrupted the meeting
that was going on at the Ol-Jabet
Social Hall, where they shouted down
people supporting total closure of all
bars and Wines and Spirit outlets in
the area.
Efforts by Marmanet Ward MCA
Francis Mukuria to calm down the
dissenting youth fell on deaf ears
forcing women and a section of
religious leaders to storm out of the
meeting.
Mukuria had earlier made efforts to
convince the residents on the need to
actively participate and give their
opinions.
Earlier on, the Chairman of the Liquour
Licensing Board Mr. James Gichuru
said it was a constitutional right to
give the public an opportunity to give
views on how to reduce the number of
bars in the area.
He said the government was
categorical that all second generation
brews would not be licenced in the
county.
Gichuru said this followed a
presidential directive and hence must
be supported adding that it was
necessary for the public to understand
which drinks have been declared
illegal.
President Uhuru Kenyatta has in the
past said that the crackdown on illicit
brews and second generation alcohol
will not relent and the Government will
soon start mechanisms to rehabilitate
youth affected by alcoholism.
The President said the National
Government and counties will soon
embark on programs to empower the
thousands of youth who were rendered
economically unproductive by the
consumption of illegal alcohol.
He said illegal alcohol has broken
down the youth and families in many
parts of the country, adding that no
effort will be spared in the fight
against its production and use.
“When you turn the youth into addicts
of illegal alcohol you are crippling the
society and the whole country,” he
said.
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