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Uhuru to host crisis meeting on alcohol abuse in central Kenya


President Uhuru Kenyatta will on Wednesday host MPs from central Kenya to discuss excessive alcohol consumption in the region.

Residents of most counties in central Kenya have often been in the news for their excessive drinking of cheap and lethal drinks, resulting in dozens of deaths from Embu to Kiambu.

On Tuesday, Mathira MP Peter Weru sent all the MPs and senators a message informing them of the President’s invitation.

Gatundu MP Moses Kuria and Kiambu Senator Kimani Wamatangi said alcohol and drug abuse was the only item on the agenda.

CRISIS LEVEL

“It is a weighty matter for us because it has reached crisis levels,” Mr Kuria said.

Mr Wamatangi described the alcohol and drug problem in the region as worse than HIV/Aids.

He said more than 40 per cent of youths in the region were affected, resulting in the closure of schools and no volunteers to join the police and military.

“The high number of deaths in the region and even the cases where women chop off men’s private parts is a backlash against alcohol. It is a worse epidemic than HIV/Aids,” he said.

At the weekend, Kabete MP Ferdinand Waititu and some youths raided bars and liquor distributors in what he said was a bid to curb alcoholism.

SOURCE: Daily Nation