The National Government, through the National Authority for the Campaign Against Drug Abuse (NACADA), in collaboration with the County of Uasin Gishu, has conducted a training exercise for County Enforcement Officers, together with the members of the National Police Service (NPS), on the fundamental strategies to crack down on illicit alcohol, drug trafficking, and abuse.
The exercise is a follow-up initiative to ensure effective implementation of the key strategies underscored in the County Action Plan on Alcohol and Drug Abuse, unveiled on February 13 during a stakeholders’ engagement forum at Eldoret National Polytechnic.
This follows the President’s Directive through the Joint Communique for Rift Valley on May 29, 2023, which identified alcohol and drug abuse (ADA) as a major challenge to the country’s socioeconomic development.
There was heightened public concern across the counties about the devastating effects of ADA, which cut across all sectors, including health and security.
In an interview with the press during the enforcement officers training event at the Rift Valley Technical Training Institute (RVTTI), NACADA, North Rift Regional Manager Eunice Arubia said the training exercise was one of the steps towards efficient implementation of the strategies underscored in the County Action Plan, in order to achieve the desired goals on the war against alcohol and drug abuse.
The training of the officers comes barely a week after similar sensitization of the National Government Administrative Officers (NGAOs) took place.
She acknowledged the immense support from partners including REINVENT Kenya, the Kenya Bureau of Standards (KEBS), the Kenya Revenue Authority (KRA), the Anti-Counterfeit Authority (ACA), and NEMA.
“We have come-up together with our partners to empower our enforcement officers together with NGAOs so that when we start this mission, we will be working from the point of information since everybody will be aware of their respective roles,” she noted.
“We have sensitised the officers to ensure they conduct their duties in a proper manner, while cracking down on illicit alcohol and drugs and handling suspects in a lawful manner, from arrest up to the time they are prosecuted, especially for the alcohol and drug abuse offences, and to enable them to cope with other challenges on lawsuits on suspects of alcohol-related offences,” said the Regional Manager.
Arubia affirmed the Authority’s commitment to playing its co-ordination role and walking together with the County government and partners to ensure the county achieves the desired goals in terms of eradicating the alcohol and drug abuse menace and ensuring people focus on development and nation-building.
She expressed concern over the saddening statistics of the survey findings, which revealed that the youngest who got involved in alcohol and drug abuse is a 5-year-old child.
“It is quite saddening that the youngest of our studies is a child as young as 5 years old getting involved. This is a child who is still under parental care. This tells us as an Agency that we need to put emphasis on programmes targeting parents on responsible parenthood, because such a child indulging in the use of alcohol and substance abuse is an indication of negligence and poor moral upbringing in our society,” explained Arubia.
The Regional Manager emphasised the need to sensitise and educate parents to enable them to bring-up the younger generation morally, to keep them in the right direction to ensure a better and healthier future.
“We have come-up with parenting programmes to sensitise and educate our parents. Even here today, we have given out parenting guides, and we will ensure we do this through all public forums,” she added.
She alluded that the Authority currently runs a successful life skills programme in some of the primary schools, which has made huge contributions in terms of improving performance and discipline among students as compared to those schools, where it has not yet been rolled-out.
Arubia called for partners’ support to enable the programme to be rolled-out in all primary schools.
The programme is intended to help children of younger age to grow up as people with the ability to make informed decisions in their lives.
“We are also looking forward to bringing on board religious leaders to enable us to have programmes targeting parents in churches and all other faiths so as to achieve responsible parenting and the moral upbringing of children in our communities,” she noted.
Noting that some children have been left under the care of teachers and religious leaders, Arubia further said they discovered that the majority of parents do not fulfil their roles as parents in terms of raising up children, hence, the need to come up with programmes to educate and sensitise them on their responsibilities as parents.
County Ag. Director, Enforcement Cosmas Kerich, commended the County Administration and NACADA for organising the training to sensitise and equip them with skills. He said this would enable them to execute their tasks in a proper manner in accordance with the law and achieve the intended goals in the fight against illicit alcohol and drug abuse in the County.
Kerich said that they have been working closely with the national security team to eradicate alcohol and drug abuse, which has enabled them to achieve significant progress in containing the menace in the County.
“We have been equipped with skills to tackle the issue of drug abuse and alcohol in accordance with the laws of Kenya. We have an inspection team to ensure all operating outlets have valid licences, and if not, they are closed down and operators are arrested and prosecuted,” he said.
By Ekuwam Sylvester and Luka Kiptanui
