By Stanley Mwahanga
Mombasa, Kenya: Bar owners in Mombasa County want to be allowed to open for longer hours claiming current restrictions are hurting their business.
They said most tourist were not able to enjoy their stay since they were subjected to the restrictions.
“Mombasa and the Coast are major tourist destination and setting time on when people are subject to drink and when they should stop is hurting tourism,” said Mombasa Bar Owners Association (MBOA) Chairman Davis Mwasi Kiondo.
“If licensing is going to be devolved let the issue of time also be reviewed and be handled by the counties. We are losing a lot of money,” he said.
The bar owners made their plea in Mombasa Monday as a showdown loomed between county government and the provincial administration over liquor licensing.
In a public notice in the media last Friday, the county government asked bar owners to apply to the County Liquor Licensing Committee for their liquor licences.
The notice said all licences payable to the National Authority for the Campaign against Alcohol and Drug Abuse (Nacada) should now be paid to the county government.
The county has called on those wishing to operate liquor outlets to deposit Sh1,000 with the county government before being cleared to pay an application fee whose value is yet to be known.
Liquor operators have been paying for their licences at Nacada and application fees were being collected by the provincial administration.
But there are claims the latter have now threatened not to relinquish collection of the fees claiming the county assembly is yet to enact laws taking over licensing.
Sub county commissioners have said that for now, they are the ones mandated to issue the licences.
However, when The Standard contacted Kisauni sub-county commissioner Tom Anjere, he declared that “the county government can take over if they so wish, because we are not interested in war with them.”
MBOA welcome the new plan, accusing the provincial officers of corruption and harassment of their members. Kiondo said Kisauni bar owners were the worst hit as they were harassed by the officials forcing many to shut down.
The association said the introduction of the so-called “Muthutho laws” had increased the default rate in licence payment by many bar owners in the county, with the provincial administration taking advantage of the confusion to rob and extort bar operators.
“Now that the county has come clean over the devolved liquor licences, we will abide by their new rules and hope they will streamline the sector,” Kiondo said.
