Interior Cabinet Secretary Kipchumba Murkomen has announced a stringent crackdown on illicit alcohol and drug trafficking, focusing on the assets and funds generated from these activities. He revealed that his ministry will collaborate with the Asset Recovery Agency to recover the proceeds of crime and intensify actions against barons and counterfeit dealers.
Murkomen expressed regret that, despite efforts to rid the country of these vices, particularly among children and youth, the courts have been imposing lenient fines on suspects, allowing them to secure their release immediately and continue their activities without restraint.
Speaking during the launch of the National Policy on the Prevention, Management, and Control of Alcohol, Drugs, and Substance Abuse in Kenya, the CS stated that illicit trafficking fuels crime, compromises public health, undermines the potential of youth, destabilises families, and erodes the very fabric of communities.
In an effort to address this issue, the CS outlined a series of interventions the ministry, in collaboration with the National Authority for the Campaign Against Alcohol and Drug Abuse (NACADA), will implement to combat the crime.
“We will be engaging the Asset Recovery Agency to see how best to make it more punitive first for those who are engaged in these acts, especially because they get very lenient fines,” said Mr Murkomen.
He added “Perhaps maybe the best way is to take away the lorry, the car, their equipment, their businesses … the assets they have built over time and it’s important for Asset Recovery to appreciate that the law on Proceeds of Crime and Money Laundering as it is not only focusing on corruption but focusing on all crimes properly defined in the same law.”
According to the CS, the aim of partnering with the Asset Recovery Agency is to make trading in substandard alcohol, drugs, and other illegal substances more punitive, as these activities rob youth of their futures.
“We have realised during the Jukwaa la Usalama public engagements why officers are targeted, especially by politicians,” he stated.
Murkomen recounted instances where his office receives numerous complaints from political leaders about Officers Commanding Stations (OCSs) in their areas.
“They tell us…OCS is not doing a good job, oh… OCS so and so is fighting me and so and so is not supporting the government. We only come to discover later that it has nothing to do with the government, these are people selling adulterated alcohol, they are supplying these cheap sachets,” said the CS.
He continued, “When police officers take serious stands, they camouflage and come back either as government supporters or people interested in the well-being of their voters, only to realize later these are people who trade in illicit alcohol.”
The CS argued that if the government seizes these assets, it could generate funds to build rehabilitation centers.
“Some of these proceeds from the accounts can be returned to build rehabilitation centres, create awareness and treat victims,” he added.
He also addressed the judicial role in combating alcohol, drug, and substance abuse, revealing that he has instructed regional and county commissioners to collaborate with court users’ associations to raise awareness among the magistrates and judges they interact with locally.
“The problem we have is these lenient fines and the high evidence threshold,” he noted. “It is important to have evidence but maybe we should look at the penal code and see if there can be certain presumptions that if you don’t have a licence, it is presumed otherwise,”
He revealed that tackling the vice at the lowest level of administration, starting with village elders, assistant chiefs, chiefs, and OCSs, is the most effective approach.
He warned OCSs and other officers who condone these activities that they risk dismissal and prosecution.
