Kindiki orders nationwide crackdown on village bars
Interior CS Kithure Kindiki has ordered a nationwide crackdown on all village bars across the country in response to the tragic deaths of over 13 individuals in Kirinyaga who died after consuming illicit brew. https://bit.ly/3SKs3DU
Transcript
00:00 We will conduct an impartial inquiry to find out exactly what happened.
00:10 And the government has directed all the agencies responsible to carry out a multi-agency coordinated
00:17 inquiry.
00:21 And this inquiry will help us to establish if any of our officers had a role to play
00:31 through their action or inaction which led to the death of so many of our people.
00:39 I want to promise on behalf of the Government of Kenya that any officer, any public official
00:48 from whatever agency of government who may have contributed to this terrible loss of
00:59 life will have to face not only removal from the public service but also we will prosecute
01:09 each one of them.
01:13 I also want to say that all the officers who have been asked to step aside, we have not
01:22 made a determination yet whether they are responsible or not and therefore we will conduct
01:27 a fair inquiry so that we also don't punish innocent public servants.
01:34 The inquiry will also be extended to junior ranked officers because besides the commanders,
01:44 we are getting information that some of the junior officers in the National Police Service,
01:51 in the national administration structures and other agencies could also have contributed
02:01 to this unfortunate event and the consequences that this event has brought on us.
02:10 I also want to announce that the seller of this poisonous drink is a notorious offender
02:21 who had been arrested before and taken to court 16 times and every time they were released
02:33 on very, very lenient bond terms and therefore it ought to be clear that it is not entirely
02:45 true to say that public officials or law enforcement officials have not done their job.
02:55 It is also true that certain officials of the judiciary have let the people of Kenya
03:03 down and frustrated the law enforcement efforts of our officers.
03:12 Nevertheless, notwithstanding the many arrests and prosecutions on this character that we
03:18 have carried out, this time round we have arrested him once more.
03:27 Mr. John Morethy is in custody and we have obtained custodial orders to keep him in custody
03:36 until we complete our investigations and we intend to charge Mr. Morethy with the most
03:46 serious crimes ever in our statutes.
03:51 The murder of so many people is not a small matter and therefore we are not looking at
04:00 routine charges about operating without licenses and other misdemeanors.
04:08 We are looking at putting a proper serious case watertight that this fellow will never
04:18 know freedom again.
04:22 And I don't see any difference between what this character has done and what other dangerous
04:30 criminals have done in other parts of the country.
04:34 There is no difference between this terrible character and what Mr. McKenzie did in Shaka
04:43 Hona.
04:48 There is no difference between what this character has done and what the Al-Shabaab terrorists
04:53 are doing and what the bandits are doing in other parts of the country.
04:58 It is the same thing.
05:00 And therefore we will not take this as a small matter and I want to announce that the new
05:14 officers who have been posted here have been directed to commence an operation beginning
05:27 today to make sure that other characters who are doing similar business and who are hiding
05:35 and using their connections to frustrate and kill the people of Kenya, that those characters
05:43 are also apprehended before they cause us more harm.
05:50 These officers have been brought here with one mandate.
05:58 They must roll back whatever has gone wrong here in Kirinyaka County.
06:06 They must make sure that this challenge is addressed and make sure that we don't have
06:16 loss of lives going forward.
06:19 And as I have said, that operation begins immediately.
06:27 We have also initiated a program to assist our people who are chronically addicted to
06:40 alcoholism and drugs and therefore our chiefs and assistant chiefs have been instructed
06:48 to collect data from every village of all chronic addicts so that we can take them for
07:01 rehabilitation.
07:02 That way we will be able to support the community from the demand side of this problem.
07:13 But other than dealing with the demand and law enforcement, the government is also going
07:21 to address the supply issue.
07:26 And the supply issue will be addressed in two ways.
07:33 First, we have directed the county security teams to liaise with county governments to
07:44 review all licenses of all bars in this county and to shut down all unlicensed outlets.
07:59 I have also directed the relevant officials to close all outlets that are selling alcohol
08:13 in the villages because there are people who have set up alcoholic establishments in the
08:25 middle of villages and this is what has ruined very many families.
08:33 And going forward, as a national security policy, county governments will only license
08:44 proper liquor establishments in shopping centers, in towns, in urban centers.
08:51 We cannot have people having licenses to operate bars in villages because this is what is affecting
09:02 very, very many families.
09:03 Thank you.
09:04 [end of transcript]
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