HTTP 200 OK
Allow: GET, PUT, PATCH, DELETE, HEAD, OPTIONS
Content-Type: application/json
Vary: Accept
{
"id": 106663,
"url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/106663/?format=api",
"text_counter": 308,
"type": "speech",
"speaker_name": "Mr. Nguyai",
"speaker_title": "The Assistant Minister, Office of the Deputy Prime Minister and Ministry of Local Government",
"speaker": {
"id": 113,
"legal_name": "Lewis Nganga Nguyai",
"slug": "lewis-nguyai"
},
"content": " Thank you, Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, for giving me the opportunity to contribute to this very important Bill. I wish to support the Member for Naivasha and thank him for taking the time to prepare this Bill. Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, Kenya is on its knees. During the time of Independence, our enemies were ignorance, poverty and disease. As we look at the new constitution, we realize that with time, we have new enemies. One of the enemies is drugs and alcoholism. Generations have been wiped out. If you look at the youth across the country, you will realize the damage that alcohol has caused to this nation. In the area where I come from, which is the Mt. Kenya region, the majority of our youth have been totally unable to be productive. In fact, it has become a widespread epidemic; you find that our youth, as has been indicated, are not only able to do their own work but they also are not unable to father children. Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, in my opinion, alcohol has vasectomised our youth to the extent that our population and productivity are being affected. One of the things that truly need to be looked into, and be focused on, is the fact that we need an authority to manage and control the consumption of alcohol. I want to thank the hon. Member for putting in place legislation that will be able to measure the statistics, rate of deaths and ingredients that are put into alcohol. Some of the third generation alcohol that we have, for example one that is known as âMaasaiâ within our local areas, have tended to cause deaths. In fact, you can see the difference between the people who consume that alcohol and the ones who do not by just looking at their faces. If you look at the face of the people who consume it, their lips are red and their eyes are yellow. This means their liver is getting dilapidated in a huge way. I will not go back to mentioning that it has caused blindness. In many instances, it has caused embarrassment, where you find that in many homes, the man has become a child and his wetting the bed. Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, this Authority that is being put in place will have very good legislation; a good proportion of the money that is derived from the sale of alcohol will go into rehabilitating not only the youth, but also other people who have been consuming it, so that they become better citizens. Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, one other factor that the Authority really needs to focus on is licensing. The times when alcohol should be consumed have not been observed. I am happy that very punitive measures have been put in place, particularly in form of the District Control Committees to ensure that people do not operate beyond the stipulated time. Looking into the number of bars that exist, you will be saddened to find that we have more bars in Kikuyu Town than the number of shops and hardware stores combined. These bars are opened from morning, and they are like the ones that have been mentioned by the Minister for Foreign Affairs. They do not have doors or timing. As early as 7.00 oâclock in the morning, you will see people staggering and you start to wonder when our population will be able to work and contribute to nation building. 30 Wednesday, 7th April, 2010(A) I would urge that when this document goes to the Committee Stage, we consider having in every single location, free alcohol towns or villages. For example, in Kijabe, alcohol is not consumed in certain areas because of the old religious influence. This is a phenomenon that goes across many counties in many countries. There are alcohol free States in the USA; there are alcohol free towns in the UK and right across Europe. I think people who want to consume alcohol should take the effort to go and look for it. One way of controlling this problem of people consuming alcohol across every part of the country is by having designated alcohol consuming centres. For example, in every single location, we should have only two centres. As a result, the control and management will be easier, and we will be able to ensure that the law truly bites. Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, as far as administration is concerned, I would request the committee that will be looking into this Bill to harmonize the new constitution, if it will be enacted, with this particular Bill to ensure that the committees are representative of a county or local level; this will ensure that the law is effective and does not require too many amendments. One of the good things that this Bill has done is to put more punitive measures in place. In the case of selling adulterated alcohol, a fine not exceeding of Kshs5 million is imposed. I think we should also have a minimum because people have always traded with the lives of human beings, which have no value. They sell adulterated alcohol, destroy the lives of our people, kill our children, yet they will only be fined up to Kshs5 million."
}