NACADA Chairman John Mututho

The National Authority for Campaign against Alcohol and Drug Abuse (NACADA) chairman John Mututho has strongly criticized the management of the drug authority for incompetence.

According to Mututho the majority of the employees at NACADA are not qualified for their jobs which makes them unable to carry out their duties in line with the authority’s mandate.

“There are about 85 percent employees who are not qualified to work for the organisation. I do not know how they were recruited because I was not there then,” Mututho said and threatened to sack the whole management when the board becomes fully functional.

“TRIBALISM AND CARTELS”

Mututho, who was speaking at a press briefing at the weekend, also revealed that the situation at NACADA has been worsened by tribalism and cartels of civil servants in the board.

“NACADA has failed due to a tribal outfit of unqualified employees even as illicit brew continue to kill Kenyans”, he said.

NINE MORE DEATHS FROM ILLICIT BREWS

Mututho’s remarks came only a day after four more people died in Narok County from drinking an illicit and toxic brew and four days after five other people died from consuming the same poisonous substance.

In the three months may to July of this year over 100 people died after consuming toxic alcohol.

On that subject Mututho did not mince his words, openly blaming NACADA Chief Executive Officer William Okedi for, allegedly, preventing the testing of alcoholic drinks brought in for assessment.

“The management of Nacada should bear all the blame”, Mututho said. He went on to claim that a budget of over Sh20 million had been approved for testing suspected illegal and toxic brews but that, “For no apparent reason the management declined to follow the board’s directive to test 3,300 alcoholic drinks and they are still there”.

NACADA IN CHAOS

NACADA was established by an Act of Parliament on 24th July, 2012 with a mission to provide leadership on policy development, education, regulation, management, programme implementation and research coordination on matters pertaining to drug and substance abuse in Kenya.

It is a great pity, to put it mildly, says the Kenya Forum, that with hundreds of Kenyans dying every year from drinking illegal poisonous alcoholic and many more being blinded and maimed, that the we should witness once again a public body, in this NACADA, descend into inter-tribal bickering amidst allegations of incompetence.