Kenya's drink problem is a constitutional problem

A man taking alcohol.[File, Courtesy]

Kenya is drinking itself into serious trouble. The National Authority for the Campaign Against Alcohol and Drug Abuse (NACADA) puts alcohol use among Kenyans aged 15 to 65 at roughly one in eight. The heaviest burden sits on the young, those between 18 and 24. It has reported children taking a first drink as early as four. And now WHO reports 14,000 annual deaths in Kenya linked to alcohol consumption. Those figures should stop us cold.

The harm is not abstract. Livers fail. Jobs disappear. Marriages collapse. Illicit brews cut with methanol blind and kill. Roads claim more lives. Violence follows drink into the home. The economy quietly loses its most productive hours.