Mututho: It won’t be business as usual

Question: Why have reports on dangerous alcoholic drinks not been acted upon and why do such reports remain secret?

Mututho: That would form a subject of inquiry as there have been several reports of toxic drinks reported to the Government and it remains of interest why no prosecution has taken place. There are no secrets between two people and we believe that it will ultimately come to the public domain. But it is important to recognise that up to 52 per cent of drinks in Kenya have been classified as sub-standard. Where such a result is published, one would expect that even if Nacada doesn’t take action, the Department of Public Health should, and if not, then the other arms involved in criminal justice like the Kenya Police should come in.

You will recall that there have been over 300 deaths reported because of alcohol poisoning, some notable ones include 80 deaths in Mai Mahiu/Narok in 1998, 137 deaths in Mukuru Kaiyaba in 2000, 50 deaths in Machakos in 2005, 28 deaths in Kibera in 2010, 19 deaths in Nyahururu/Ol Kalou in 2011, 14 deaths in Embu in 2011, seven deaths in Keiyo in 2012 and many others. Even an inquest by the Judiciary should have exposed these killer brews and the persons behind them. That is why I believe at an appropriate time we will be recommending to the President to institute a public inquiry into this scam.

Why should we think it will not be business as usual moving forward?

I believe there is only one John Mututho and since John Mututho is the one in charge of Nacada, in my world and for the few years I have been in public service, everybody I have worked with knows I do not entertain being second best in technical performance.

Nacada will follow the law to the letter and no intimidation, threat or innuendo will stop us from pursuing and achieving our mandate. There are more than 500 brands of alcoholic drinks in Kenya, and our mandate is to ensure they conform to legal and health standards.

We have already been to as far as Kipipiri in Nyandarua, Voi in Taita Taveta, Nakuru, Nairobi and soon we will be going to Meru, Isiolo, Marsabit, Kakamega and Kisumu, tracking down the sources of these many brands from what I have previously referred to as drinks from merchants of death. We buy them from retail outlets and pass them on to the Government chemist and other agencies for analysis. Of some 162 samples analysed recently, 52 per cent are substandard.

The good news is that we are forwarding the entire file to the Director of Public Prosecution for further investigation and possible prosecution. I believe the department and Public Health can achieve this within the next seven to 14 days.

All alcoholic drinks must conform to the requirements of the Alcoholic Drinks Control Act. It is financial suicide for anyone in their right mind to continue trading in these illicit alcoholic drinks.

Who could have authorised the drinks to remain in the market? What will you do differently about that?

I believe no one authorised this. KEBS has sophisticated equipment but the crooks dealing in substandard drinks go to the market and buy top range alcoholic drinks of international labels, repackage them and forward that to KEBS for analysis, whereby KEBS will show very good results and subsequently approve. Perhaps we need to advice KEBS now to regularly visit those breweries and sample from all factories and all the wholesale and retail outlets to check on the deviation from the initial samples and then cause prompt prosecution in case of deviation.

It is not clear where the blame game begins and stops but we know we are supposed to register all the alcoholic drinks and we shall do exactly that. We are now calling for five samples from every manufacturer or importer of alcoholic drinks for detailed analysis for purposes of approval on our own Kenyan standards and also international standards and then recommend for consumption.

Woe unto those who will continue in trading in disregard of this proviso, which will automatically lead to prosecution and heavy fines

I believe the penalties of up to Sh10 million, including a jail term, should send a clear message and serve as a deterrent.

How does Nacada liaise with KEBS and what mandate does the standards parastal have to remove the drinks form the shelves?

KEBS has powers to do that and cause prosecution and besides, there is the Public Health Act. These have been provided for in adequate measure in our statutes and all we are urging KEBS to do is wake up from their slumber and do their job.

How much revenue does the Government make from the drinks?

Our suspicion is that the market is much bigger than expressed in the tax returns. The media is reporting young people as spending billions of shillings on entertainment.

It is common knowledge that most of it is on alcohol. If the youth spend these billions, then we can conservatively approximate that the collectable income would be expected to be over Sh40 billion and we all know that is not the case.

It is now reported that Kenya is controlling between 70 per cent and 75 per cent of the alcohol market in East Africa. Can the size of this market then be what is being reported in the alcohol industry? We give a resounding no, but leave
it to KRA to do their investigations.

-www.standardmedia