What Kaguthi thinks of Waititu’s fight against alcohol in Kiambu.

Nyumba Kumi Initiative chairman Joseph Kaguthi responding to question from the press.

The former National Agency for the Campaign Against Drug Abuse (NACADA) boss Joseph Kaguthi has thrown his weight behind embattled Kiambu Governor Ferdinand Waititu in his fight against alcoholism and illicit brews in the county, terming those fighting him as the ‘enemies of the Agikuyu Community’.

While speaking in Thika after a tour of the Mt. Kenya Region on Monday, Kaguthi said that he was saddened by the state of affairs in the community and those against the governor’s move did not actually know the magnitude of the alcohol menace against the community future.

“I have gone round the region and what I saw was really sad. Our community is being doomed to extinction. Our young men are being rendered impotent and useless by this scourge as we watch,” lamented Kaguthi.  

“Majority of the menial jobs are now being performed by women as our young men die of alcohol,” he added.

Kaguthi warned that there existed a conspiracy and a grand scheme to wipe out the Kikuyu community in a similar fashion that the Aborigines in Australia and the Red Indians in America were pre-disposed to alcoholism by foreigners with a view to destabilise and weaken them.

“When foreigners provided them with large quantities of strong liquor and wine, these tribes had little time to develop social, legal or moral guidelines to regulate alcohol use. This influence had a very devastating effect on the natives. It established a behavioral pattern of drinking that reinforced unhealthy quantities from the onset. This is what we have induced to our people,” said the Nyumba Kumi initiative chairman.

In addition to the emotional and psychological damage caused by alcoholism, Kaguthi said that alcoholism has forced so many marriage separations, preventing parents from having the opportunity to raise their children in a way that was culturally congruent.

He noted that virtually every home in the neighbourhood had been affected by the alcohol menace and there is no way anyone could just sit down and watch “our enemies” sink the community into oblivion. He therefore appealed to the region’s clergy, elected leaders and community leaders to take up the responsibility to fight this menace

“Alcoholism is to blame for numerous marriage breakups amongst our people as men have failed to perform their duties as the heads of families. Look at our schools now, most classes are now empty for lack of children. We need to wake up as a community and wedge a serious war against all those out to kill our future,” declared Kaguthi.

Kaguthi also appealed to elected leaders to institute a vigorous campaign in Parliament to have all alcoholic drinks and cigarettes get heavily tax so as to dissuade many people from indulging in their usage.

“I wish we can get back to the 80s and 90s when the Finance Ministers imposed heavy taxes on alcohol and cigarettes. This limited their usage to some extent. I am shocked that the Finance CS has zero rated the sale of Keg Senator making it so accessible and affordable to our young people,” he said.

He termed this move by the CS as a killer bomb as majority of the youth were likely to fall prey to alcohol addiction.