Thirty-five people among them police officers have been arrested in the ongoing crackdown on sale and manufacture of illicit brews in Kirinyaga.
This comes even as the County Government announced start of the vetting exercise for all liquor outlets.
Police have also recovered close to Ksh.1 million in cash and unknown illicit brew hidden in a manhole under the bed.
Josephine Karioko Muchira, owner of Holiday Inn Pub in Kutus, was arrested and her pub shut down for manufacturing and selling illicit brew.
Karioko was found in possession of over 100 liters of illicit brew with fake Kenya Bureau of Standard (KEBS) and Kenya Revenue Authority (KRA) stamps.
Kirinyaga County Commissioner Hussein Allasow said the bar closure order issued governor Anne Waiguru has been enforced to allow for the vetting exercise.
Allasow said a multi-agency team has been formed to undertake the bar vetting exercise and called for cooperation from all stakeholders.
“We have done an operation and I want to confirm that all bars are closed except for a few who want to play cat and mouse games. Because of fear that there still could be poisonous drinks out there, the bars will remain closed until when vetting is complete,” he said.
He said all civil servant who operate liquor outlets have been identified and would not get licenses for their facilities.
The County Commissioner also put on notice all illegal brewers that the law will catch up with them soon.
“Ours is to make sure our people remain safe; we are also rolling out a process where we are going to look for illegal manufacturers. We have arrested many and our officers are doing everything possible to make sure they are brought to book,” he said.
County Executive Committee Member for Sports, Culture and Social Services Dennis Muciimi said the verification process commenced on Monday with 20 ward multi-agency vetting committees being tasked to undertake the exercise.
“These committees will conduct physical verification of all alcoholic outlets to determine whether an establishment meets the criteria of licenses as stipulated in Kirinyaga County Alcoholic Drinks Control Act, 2014,” he said.
Muciimi assured bar owners that the exercise will be done in an open and transparent manner to ensure those who have complied with liquor licensing regulations are allowed to reopen.
“We urge all alcoholic outlets owners to be physically present in their respective premises to pave way for verification exercise,” he added.
The CEC said the vetting team will visit all alcoholic drinks outlets in their respective wards to undertake the exercise.
Bar owners will be required to provide a valid 2024 applications receipts and 2023 liquor licenses and warned that those who fail to show up for the exercise will be deemed to have exited the business.
