Tharaka Nithi County has released its status report on liquor business licensing to aid the regulation of manufacturing, distribution, sale and consumption of alcoholic beverages within the county anchored on guidelines in the Tharaka Nithi County Alcoholic Drinks Control Act of 2021.
The county received a total of 1006 retail outlets applicants, where a total of 556 were approved. The outlets per region include Chuka Urban (86), Chuka Rural (85), Tharaka South (86), Igambang’ombe (74), Mwimbi (99), Muthambi (71) and Tharaka North (55)
Five distributors considered for licensing include Highmark Trading, Cradle Wines and Spirits, Mt Kenya Distributors, Ciagacigi Stockists and Bettersip Distributors.
Product lines approved under the distributers include EABL (UDV Spirits, Senator Keg, Bottled and Canned Beer), KWAL, London Distillers, J-Wines, KayKay &Sons Ltd, Patiala Distillers and Keroche Breweries.
Late distributor license applications subject to consideration by the county include Keroche Breweries Limited, King’inya Distributors, Memlands Entrepresises and Kange.
For distributors, one is required to have a depot within the county, provide a list of specific alcoholic brands, have clearances from their counties or counties of origin and be open for regular routine inspections.
Out of the three manufactures that applied for the licensing, Kiera Hills Limited awaits clearance by other agencies for the manufacture of Opaque beer under the Sweetwaters brand.
Nsanze Trading Company set to produce Wines and Spirits from bananas was not inspected due to ongoing construction works.
Hakim Commercial Agencies however did not have their application approved.
In his speech during the status report release at Chuka on Monday 26 Jun. 23, Tharaka Nithi Governor Muthomi Njuki announced plans to revamp the county call centre to have an officer in charge of drugs and substance abuse reports.
Additionally, the Governor asked that the Government Chemist be devolved to counties to ensure speedy investigations into illicit brewing across the country.
Njuki noted that the county would lose KShs 15 million in revenue from unlicensed liquor outlets.
He further recommended the construction of rehabilitation centres in each of the three constituencies to help stop the illicit brew, drugs and substance abuse menace saying the youth were the most affected.
“We have to save this generation that is under threat of becoming extinct because of something within our control. Rehabilitation is inevitable if we have to deal with this menace”, he said.
On Bar businesses according to the new orders open their doors from 5Pm to 11 Pm on work days, and 2Pm to 11Pm on weekend and holidays.
For Wines and Spirits, operations begin at 10Am to 8:30Pm daily and will have to strictly adhere to take aways.
Bar and Restaurants will open from 2Pm to 11pm daily and are required to have a kitchen and separate serving area in the premises.
Night Clubs are required to open from 2Pm to 3Am daily while Hotels with alcohol or accommodation set to apply the same set guidelines as Bar and Restaurants but with guest rooms.
The operations of Night Clubs in the county have been scaled down to only four towns, namely Chuka, Chogoria, Marimanti and Kathwana.
Town allowed to operate Bar and Restaurants include Kathwana, Marimanti, Chogoria, Chuka, Mitheru, Kaanwa, Tunyai, Gatunga, Nkondi, Kibugua, Chiakariga, Mukothima, Magutuni, Marima, Itugururu, Kajuki and Kibung’a.
Other leaders present included Tharaka MP George Murugara, Maara MP Kareke Mbiuki and Chuka/Igambang’ombe MP Patrick Munene.
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