Second Lady Pastor Dorcas Rigathi paid a visit to families who lost their loved ones in Kirinyaga after consuming illicit brew.
Pastor Dorcas who campaigns against alcohol, drug and substance abuse, termed income gained from killer businesses as ‘blood money’.
“You go to the bar counter and buy death and also buy tears for your entire family. As a Pastor, I'm tired of burying our children and husbands from deaths caused by alcohol,” she said.
Pastor Dorcas said she was pained watching news reports that 23 people had died and five went blind and tens hospitalised after taking illicit brew.
“Tell your children, women and men to stop taking this alcohol. It is wrong for people to line their pockets with blood money. Parents burying their children is very wrong. Even women of 60 years and above dying from alcohol is very wrong,” she said.
The bar that sold the killer illicit brew is tucked away between maize and banana farms at Kangai Ward.
It was reduced to a shell by angry residents who burnt it down a few days ago following the deaths and blindness it caused to residents.
The community was angry that the owner of the bar had been arrested 16 times in the past, but still managed to evade justice and continued with the business.
“How would we keep quiet as our children die like animals? We take our own money and go buy death. This is sad for our nation and especially in Mt Kenya region. For 23 to die and five to lose their sight and this number has climbed over the days is sad,” Pastor Dorcas said.
Peter Waweru who lost his 40 year old son and decried the high number of bars in the area said the youth are the most affected, leaving huge gaps in the community.
Leah Waruingi was in pain expressing how she lost four family members to the killer brew.
“This bar is located within where people live. We are mourning as a village, and as a family. The burden of emotional burden of burying four people is too much to bear,” Waruingi said.
Peter Mwai who lost his father to the killer brew said the owner of the bar ought to face the full arm of the law.
“Who licensed this bar, right inside the farms where people live? This man should face the full force of the law. He has evaded justice one time too many, 16 times,” Mwai said.