Bar owners in Murang’a county have urged the government to provide retailers with a list of licensed brews they can stock in their premises.
This in a bid to support the state in its relentless fight against killer brews.
The entrepreneurs, who held a meeting at a Murang’a hotel, said they fully support the continuing efforts by the government to deal with illicit brews.
They added that one of the ways the state can make strides in the fight is by providing them with a list of all alcoholic brands that have been tested and deemed safe for consumption.
The patron of the bar owners’ association James Waweru said that they welcome the government move to suspend the licenses of all manufactures of second and third generation alcoholic brews, saying it was a step in the right direction.
Waweru, however, said that as bar owners they want the government to go a step further and licence the various products independently, then share publicly the list of all licensed brands.
“We would like all the products sold in Kenya to be tested and licensed afresh one by one irrespective of who the manufacturer is,” he said.
“All manufactures should, therefore, declare all their individual products and have them tested again so that after the government licenses the different products, they can make public the list of all the approved brands for the retailers to access.”
Waweru called for random testing of the products available on the shelves as a way of ensuring their quality is not tampered with over time.
He cautioned against making populist decisions and asked retailers and other stakeholders be involved in the efforts against any lethal alcohol.
“Closing the bars may only gratify the public temporarily, but it will not solve the alcohol menace if the fight does not start from the manufacturing and the distribution process,” he said.
Waweru called on the government to urgently recall all suspected counterfeit brands from the market in order to prevent more deaths.
On his part, the chairman of bars owners’ association Simon Njoroge said alcohol retailers support government efforts to curb killer brews and they are willing to work hand in hand with the county security teams.
“However, as bar owners we neither manufacture nor distribute alcohol and it's, therefore, the government’s responsibility to ensure the product reaching us remains safe for consumption,” he said.
Njoroge said bar owners’ associations have been sensitising their members on acquiring their liquor from well-known distributors while cautioning them against buying alcohol from unbranded vehicles or distributors.
“We have asked our members not to buy alcohol from unbranded vehicles or distributors as a way of ensuring they are not supplied with counterfeit alcohol,” he said.
Njoroge said the government should fully involve the retailers in policy making and at various levels of dealing with the killer brews since they are the link between the alcohol manufacturers and the consumers.
“We are the retailers, after you are done with manufacturers, sit with us as well so that we can play our part in ending the illicit brews menace,” he said.