NAROK, Kenya — Interior and National Administration Cabinet Secretary Kipchumba Murkomen has pledged an aggressive nationwide crackdown on illicit alcohol and drug abuse, warning that the menace is devastating the country’s youth.
Speaking in Narok on Friday, Murkomen lamented the growing number of young people falling victim to drug addiction, particularly students in colleges and universities.
“My job is to fight illegal alcohol, which is sold in sachets and contains harmful ethanol that is killing our children,” he said.
He instructed local administrators, including chiefs and police officers, to take decisive action against the distribution of illicit brews and narcotics.
Murkomen painted a grim picture of the crisis, describing scenes of students passed out on the streets due to drug abuse.
“You find a young man lying on a terrace at three in the morning—someone who should be dependent on his family and building his future. But instead, drugs have taken over their lives,” he said.
He expressed particular concern over the infiltration of drugs into learning institutions, calling it a direct attack on Kenya’s future generation.
“We will conduct security operations, arrest those selling drugs, prosecute them, and remove them from society,” he vowed.
Our administrators and police are under firm instructions to eradicate all illicit brews and drugs. All those ruining the future of our children by selling these harmful substances, including in schools and colleges, must be apprehended and prosecuted.
Murkomen’s tough stance comes on the heels of alarming statistics from the National Authority for the Campaign Against Alcohol and Drug Abuse (NACADA).
In a report released in February 2025, NACADA board chairman Stephen Mairori revealed that 53% of Kenyans have used different types of drugs in their lifetime.
The survey, conducted among university students, showed a shift in trends—female students now lead in drug abuse, a reversal from previous reports that indicated higher prevalence among male students.
Mairori urged county governments to ramp up awareness campaigns and partner with stakeholders to curb the rising crisis.
