Atwoli blames industry cartel over cancellation of Mututho’s appointment

The Central Organisation of Trade Unions (COTU) has condemned recent move to revoke the appointment of John Mututho as the Chairman of the National Authority for Campaign against Alcohol and Drug Abuse (NACADA).

The central organization read mischief and blamed industry cartel for frustrating the fight against drug abuse in the country.

“This did not come as a surprise since this is the very culture as a country we have often fallen prey to and it was evident when the late John Michuki was at the transport Ministry where despite all the sanity and order he toiled so hard to bring on our roads and reduce rampant road carnage through the former Michuki rules, he was unceremoniously bundled out of the ministry as cartels and impunity reigned our roads,” said COTU Secretary General Francis Atwoli.

“Alcohol and Drug Abuse are no doubt killing our youths in this country. Kenya is losing great minds to this menace and even the President just recently directed all Country Commissioners throughout the republic to deal with it and report back to him personally on the progress made." 

"The President is much aware even from his backyard how alcohol has ruined both young men and women rendering most of them fully intoxicated to death,” he said.

He said COTU will not forgive the government if it yielded to the cartels and revoked Mututho’s appointment.

Mututho’s appointment was revoked by President Uhuru Kenyatta via a Kenya Gazzette notice of October 24, 2013. There are no reasons given for the revocation, but Mr Mututho said he had resigned voluntarily in order to be vetted by Parliament. He was appointed in September.

A section of MPs and the civil society had opposed Mr Mututho’s appointment, saying it was not done procedurally.

“I have submitted myself voluntarily to this process in order to remove any doubts about my suitability to hold this office,” said Mr Mututho.

Soon after coming into office, Mr Mututho waded straight into a debate on whether miraa should be banned or not. He surprised many when he said that miraa is not a drug as Nacada has long maintained, a statement which seems to have rubbed some at the Authority the wrong way.

“His statement meant undoing years of work that we have been doing towards fighting drug abuse,” said a senior source at Nacada who did not wish to be named. “We felt that his remarks about miraa were rash,” he said.

-standardmedia