Chiefs, assistant chiefs and police officers receiving protection money from illicit alcohol brewers or peddlers of drugs will be sacked.
Speaking during a multi-agency meeting in Tharaka Nithi yesterday, Interior CS Kithure Kindiki put them on notice.
“Chiefs, assistant chiefs and police officers receiving protection money from illicit alcohol brewers or peddlers of drugs are agents of killers (peddlers),” he said.
“They do not deserve their security management positions. We will not transfer them. We will sack them.”
Kindiki said Kenya risks losing an entire generation if the government does not deal firmly with those making and selling poisonous alcoholic drinks and drugs.
He said the fight against illicit alcohol and drugs is no longer a general matter but a personal issue.
“Almost every home or family has a member who is struggling with addiction or has been completely run over by these poisonous substances,” Kindiki said.
The Interior boss said as a ministry, they have considered the sale, use and abuse of illicit alcohol, drugs and psychotropic substances among the five main national security threats.
“The risks terrorists and bandits pose to our country are the same, if not worse, as those posed by criminals who manufacture, distribute and sell this illicit alcohol and narcotics,” Kindiki said.
The CS vowed to protect legitimate alcohol businesses that are compliant and paying taxes.
But he said the government will not allow the sale of poisonous substances disguised as alcohol.
Kindiki was speaking in a meeting chaired by Deputy President Rigathi on multi-agency engagement of the Upper Eastern Region in the fight against illicit brews and drug and substance abuse.
Those who also attended include Cabinet Secretaries Susan Wafula and Mithika Linturi, Internal Security Principal Secretary Raymond Omollo, Governors Muthomi Njuki of Tharaka Nithi, Meru's Kawira Mwangaza and Mohamud Ali of Marsabit, members of the bicameral Parliament, National Government Administration officers, Regional and County Security and intelligence committees.
This is the third meeting in a series of regional conventions against the menace.