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"content": "country and the strong people in this nation. If you analyse what drug and alcohol abuse have done to this country, I can challenge and ask anybody sitting in this House this morning to say which family has not been directly affected by this menace. It is like HIV/AIDS, where you know somebody or people who are very close to you, that are affected directly by the scourge. Mr. Speaker, Sir, since HIV/AIDS was made a national disaster, we have seen how much action has been taken, both at national and international level. We have also seen that, that action has got very positive results. We need to be thankful to those people that saw it fit to declare HIV/AIDS a national disaster and almost an international disaster. Virtually everybody supported this Motion yesterday and saw the wisdom of it. Mr. Speaker, Sir, I represent Murang’a County in this Senate, and I know that it is not any more ravaged than other counties. But if what I see in Murang’a is anything to go by, and if that is what is happening in all the other 46 counties, then I believe that each one of us should support this Motion without equivocation. In the Ninth Parliament, I was privileged to be a Member and brought a Motion at that time which was for the banning of the sale of alcohol in sachets. This is because the sale of alcohol in sachets that bore many names and also their sizes and the fact that they could be hidden in school bags--- You could see people like the gentlemen sitting in this Senate having them in the pockets of their coats and drinking continuously. It destroyed many people. When I brought that Motion, what I remember vividly is that when it came to the Floor of the House, the then Minister for Trade took interest and contributed very positively to it. At the end of it all, he took it over and the ban on the sale of alcohol in sachets was gazetted and to date, we do not see alcohol being sold in sachets in any part of the country. I know for sure that it saved or helped to save many of our school-going children and men and women, who would otherwise look responsible in public, but when they get drunk, you do not know, because of the fact that they were able to conceal that factor. Mr. Speaker, Sir, if we have the abuse of alcohol and drugs declared a national disaster, then we expect that every arm of the Government, at every level, both national and county, is going to focus on this issue and come out with solutions, like it has already started in some counties; where the sale of illicit brews and abuse of alcohol is being taken very seriously. One wonders how alcohol that is bottled, like in plastic bottles, finds its way and is sold over the counters in bars, in every place, and it has passed the test of the Kenya Bureau of Standards (KeBS) and all the other authorities that we have in this country, when indeed what is being sold is poison. You will find poison on the counters of bars in Murang’a and all other counties, and it passes as alcohol or brew. It is not normal for someone to take less than half a bottle and he cannot remember his or her name. Sadly even women have been sapped into this and we have as many alcohol and drug abusers in men as we have in women. This is not a gender issue, but a national issue. One of the biggest challenges is how some of these national institutions are working. When do they inspect and how do they pass these things? Mr. Speaker, Sir, there is the issue of corruption. Corruption, again, has played a very major toll in this destruction that we are seeing in the youth of our country. How are these alcohols manufactured? How do they find their way to the counties? How do they cross the borders between counties and then find themselves in there, when mothers, fathers and everybody is crying because they can see the destruction that has been The electronic version of the Senate Hansard Report is for information purposes only. A certified version of this Report can be obtained from the Hansard Editor, Senate."
}