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| Irate area residents stormed the bar that is suspected to have supplied the lethal brew dubbed FIESTA, confiscating some if the products. |
Prime Minister Raila Odinga has asked police and the provincial administration to get ruthless with people selling lethal drinks that are killing people across the country.
Speaking in Banana, Kiambu County Sunday at a funeral of one of those who died after consuming a local brew, the PM said merchants of death were selling poison to the people in the name of alcohol.
He asked police to deal with those selling such brews as dealers in poison.
The PM said police should invoke laws dealing with sale of poison in dealing with such vendors.
Mr Odinga said alcoholism and drug and substance abuse is becoming a national catastrophe and unless police swiftly and firmly, lives will continue to be lost.
He said the demographic profile of abusers is also changing, with more women and youth are increasingly joining drug and substance abuse.
He ordered police to close all licensed bars that are known to be dealing in the lethal drinks and challenged residents to stop taking alcohol altogether is it only leads to death.
The PM said what is killing people in many places is strictly not alcohol but poison being sold under labels of licensed alcoholic drinks.
"Laws exist, with severe penalties for those who supply the dangerous substances. But the merchants of death are taking advantage of loopholes and corruption in our policing," he said.
The PM was accompanied to by MP Mr Stanley Githunguri and former Attorney General Mr Charles Njonjo.
He later visited Githiga village also in Kiambu, where a similar brew claimed three lives earlier Sunday. On Saturday, six people were confirmed dead after they consumed lethal brew.
The victims reportedly started complaining of stomach pains after they consumed the lethal brew at a bar in Banana area on Saturday.
Relatives rushed some of the victims to hospital in a bid to save their lives but their efforts were fruitless.
By mid-day, six people had been confirmed dead while another was rushed to a nearby health center after he went blind.
Irate area residents stormed the bar that is suspected to have supplied the lethal brew dubbed FIESTA, confiscating some if the products.
The country has over the years witnessed deaths occasioned by illicit brews, a late that saw the legislation of the Alcoholic Drinks Control Act with the hope that the unfortunate trend would be checked.
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