Nacada warns alcoholism is big threat to Uhuru’s Big 4 Agenda
Alcoholism has been identified as a threat to the realization of President Uhuru Kenyatta’s big four agenda.
According to the National Authority for Campaign Against Drug Abuse (Nacada), alcoholism remains the most abused drug in the country affecting thousands of youths.
The Interior Chief Administrative Secretary (CAS) Patrick Ole Ntutu said a recent survey carried out by Nacada indicated that children at a tender age of four were exposed to alcohol, dealing a major blow to the fight against alcoholism and drug abuse in the country.
The CAS attributed the indicators to the availability of alcohol and poor enforcement of the Alcoholic Drinks Control Act (2010).
The menace, he said, threatened to reverse the national governments development programs since the youth who comprise the largest percentage of the workforce were hooked to alcohol and drugs.
President Kenyatta’s Big 4 Agenda entails manufacturing, universal healthcare coverage, affordable housing and food security.
THREATENED BY ALCOHOLISM
“Achieving the big four agenda requires a youthful and healthy population which is now threatened by alcoholism,” he said.
School children at primary and secondary levels, he said, bear the biggest burden as studies placed alcohol consumption at its highest at the institutions.
This, he said, was due to proximity to bars and alcohol dens to the institutions adding that most shops and kiosks around the institutions were dens of alcohol from where workers sell the commodity to students.
To reverse the tide, Ole Ntutu called for collaboration between the national and county governments to enforce alcohol control regulation in order to save the generation.
He urged the devolved units to support ongoing programs by NACADA at the same time come up with initiatives to sensitize the communities and the youth against the effects of drug abuse.