Bar owners: Charge 'mchele babes' with attempted murder

Following several cases of drugging in bars and restaurants, the National Bar Owners Association has come up with several proposals to tame the vise.

This comes after a man who was recently shot dead in Nairobi was linked to hiring petite women to hunt for men to be drugged in bars before their millions are stolen.

The proposals included a request to the Judiciary to make spiking a capital offense like attempted murder, saying stupefying was akin to poisoning.

The group’s secretary-general Boniface Gachoka said the cases had tarnished the bar businesses’ image, not only in Nairobi but also around the country.

“Following the rising cases, we have been forced to come up with proposals to tame the vice in collaboration with our members, DCI and Inspector General of Police,” explained Gachoka.

He argued that while their organisation was aware that the cases were on the rise, they had not been able to compile data about men drugged every year or monthly, saying some cases were sorted amicably.

“That is why we have invited the authorities to come up with a special squad to hunt for women who spike drinks in bars across the country,” said Gachoka.

The bar owners said whenever a case of spiking was reported, their customers stopped checking in the specific joints.

For this reason, the association has challenged their members to invest in security measures, including CCTV cameras and tight security to monitor those checking into the rooms.

At the same time, members, under Bhalita, said through their secretary-general that they had been encouraged not to forgive culprits of spiking.

“The association has directed our members that whenever someone is arrested in connection with drugging, they should be paraded online and offline until their families know what they have committed. Not settling that cases locally,” said the secretary-general.

However, Gachoka said the Data Protection Act limited bar owners from registering women to operate in specific bars so as to curb the cases.

Instead, the secretary-general said bar owners should not allow anyone to check into their rooms without proper identification cards.