Interior Cabinet Secretary Kithure Kindiki suspended all licences for distillers and manufacturers of second-generation alcohol on Wednesday. He issued this directive and said that they would have to apply afresh for the license.
“All licenses and certification permits for second-generation alcohol and alcoholic beverage distillers and manufacturers, issued by the Kenya Revenue Authority and Kenya Bureau of Standards, stand suspended with immediate effect. All existing valid licenses will be vetted afresh within twenty-one (21) days of this directive, with premises approved to resume operations only upon receipt of fresh approval,” he read from a written statement.
He termed the scourge of alcoholism and illicit distribution of the same to be one of the top 5 national security threats putting Kenyans at risk.
“The trade, consumption, and abuse of illicit alcohol, narcotics, drugs and psychotropic substances now rank as one of the five key national security threats, which include terrorism, banditry and livestock rustling, cultural, religious and political extremism, and climate change. For this reason, the Government has adopted a national security posture in its management of this scourge,” he said in a speech.
He also issued newer, stringent directives to the manufacturers of alcohol in the country. He stated that fresh licenses would be issued if manufacturers had adequate quality control labs, competent lab analysts to test raw materials and a final approval from KEBS.
“Fresh license applications shall require manufacturers to have Quality Control (QC) laboratories installed with Gas Chromatography with Flame Ionization Detector (FID), and this must be operated by competent laboratory analysts to test incoming raw materials and finished products before releasing them to the market. The laboratories should register with a provider of inter-laboratory comparison and submit their quality control results to the Kenya Bureau of Standards (KEBS) monthly,” he directed.