Busia County Commissioner Mwachaunga Chaunga has warned bar owners that they risked losing their business registration certificates if they fail to adhere to the law.
Speaking during the commemoration of the International Day of Alcohol and Drug Abuse (IDADA) at Busia KMTC, Mwachaunga noted that a section of bar owners was selling alcoholic drinks to under age children while others were operating beyond the accepted hours.
“There are bars which are allowing the under-age to drink in their premises. We have started the crackdown to ensure that those which don’t follow the law and time to open will have their licenses suspended.
This goes all along to the wine and spirit shops. We are not going to negotiate on this because the effects lives to our youth” he said
Chaunga said drug abuse has resulted in broken families, compromised health, increased crime and loss of productivity.
“This is a call to action for the government, civil societies, religious leaders and families to come together and say no to drugs and yes to life. Our proximity to the international borders, high unemployment among our youths and increased urbanization has contributed to the vulnerability of our families,’he said
He lauded the launch of Alcoholic Anonymous Busia chapter stating that this is sending a strong knowledge that recovery is possible and support is available for no one has to walk this journey alone.
The CC further stated that his office will provide full support to all efforts that enhance prevention, treatment and rehabilitation.
“We will continue to strengthen the enforcement against the sale and distribution of illicit alcohols. We will also intensify public awareness, especially the youth and work with stakeholders to make Busia a better place free from alcohol” he said.
He rallied all stakeholders to take responsibility by not condemning the addiction but creating an alternative and offering a second chance. He added that there is a need to invest in the youth and create a bright future.
Busia County Coordinator of NACADA Zeka Wekesa said the alcohol consumption is at a high level calling on everyone to join them in handling the issue.
“The statistics of alcohol abuse in this County are too high. According to the previous research, 22% of residents in this County abuse drugs. On the abuse of cannabis, the statistics shows that 1 out of 53 people use cannabis. 1 in every 28 of them uses miraa while the use of traditional liquor remains high in the county” he said
Wekesa said as the authority they have been doing primary prevention by carrying out sensitizations to the youth to enlighten and empower them to do primary prevention.
He added that the authority also does addiction treatment by empowering available addiction treatment centers so that they can help the addicted people to reform.
Janerose Ambuchi from the County Department of Health called for the establishment of a rehabilitation center to help many people who are affected.
“Today every home is affected either by drug abuse or an addict and this needs our efforts together for us to defeat this,” she said.
Godfrey Omondi from the Alcoholic Anonymous said the group is working with the addicts to ensure they help them in the recovery process in the county.
“We are about 30 and we started our group with around 3 members last year. We decided to come together to help many people because we realized many who are affected by addiction fails to get where they can get help. Most of them relapse after coming back to the community from rehabilitation centres,” he said
Chris Wekesa from the National Cancer Institute of Kenya said that drugs have been the leading cause of cancer among many citizens.
“Alcohol and tobacco has remained the main cause of cancer. We are losing a minimum of 88 patients in the country on a daily basis because of cancer” he said.
Wekesa added that tobacco has close to 7000 chemicals and 70 of them are known to be carcinogens which are risk factors for cancer.
He called on the stakeholders to come together and help to fight drug abuse so as to control cancer.
By Salome Alwanda and Rodgers Omondi
