Gachagua allies tell off PS Omollo over illicit brew response to ex-DP

Former Deputy President Rigathi Gachagua with hsi wife Pastor Dorcas and Friends sing a number /HANDOUT

Leaders allied to former Deputy President Rigathi Gachagua have responded to Interior Principal Secretary Raymond Omollo over his response to allegations that the government is targeting the Mt. Kenya region with illicit alcohol distribution.

In a joint statement, the leaders alleged that it is the Kenya Kwanza administration that has been irresponsible by allowing illicit alcohol to return into the region.

The leaders, most of them legislators, said PS Omollo's response did not address the specific issues raised by the former DP.

“For example, we expected him to speak to whether the government efforts against the production, distribution, sale, and consumption of illicit brews had borne fruit when Rigathi Gachagua was in office, to the point where most if not all of these illicit brews had disappeared from around the Mt Kenya region and across the country.

“Whether the production, distribution, sale, and consumption of illicit brews has returned since he left office, across the country and especially within the Mt. Kenya Region,” the statement reads in part.

Gachagua’s allies further demanded that the Interior PS make public details of all the 29 companies reportedly dealing with 2nd generation alcohol, where and when they were vetted, and by which specific officers in the institutions he mentioned.

They also demanded that PS Omollo provide the names of the 15 companies that have been vetted and licensed to sell this 2nd generation alcohol, where they are located, what their product brands and authorized packaging are as sold to consumers, and where they are distributing their products.

“The PS should specifically confirm whether the 13 companies he recently licensed were meant to sell exclusively in the Mt Kenya Region, and if it is true, he vetted these ones entirely by himself.”

The statement was signed by at least 23 legislators allied to the former DP under the banner of Sauti ya Wakenya, political leaders caucus.

On Monday, PS Omollo told off former Deputy President Rigathi Gachagua over allegations that the government was deliberately targeting the Mt Kenya region with illicit alcohol.

Omollo termed Gachagua’s remarks as selfish and politically motivated.

“The state Department of Internal Security and National Administration wishes to condemn the reckless statements made by the impeached former Deputy President Mr. Rigathi Gachagua in a church service he attended yesterday, accusing the government of deliberately targeting citizens of Kenya in the Mt. Kenya region with illicit and counterfeit alcohol distribution,” he said.

“It is therefore in bad faith and disingenuous of Mr. Gachagua to turn around, after serving this country at the highest office, and lay such ludicrous claims on such a sensitive matter that deeply impacts families and lives,” the PS said.

He insisted that it is worrying that such a sensitive matter can be trivialised without empathy for families that have lost their loved one to illicit and counterfeit alcohol.

The Principal Secretary added that the claims by Gachagua are ill-intended and can amount to breaking the law.

“We take great exception that such grave national matters can be trivialized by one individual, on a church podium nonetheless, without empathy for the families that may be struggling with this crisis