How new laws have changed beer market

More recently, the government has been pushed into disaster management as a significant proportion of low income earners turned to cheap illicit drinks — sometimes laced with deadly additives that have caused deaths or blindness.

Last April, about 18 people died in Nairobi’s Shauri Moyo Estate after consuming an illicit brew.

Kenya’s liquor market is estimated to be worth Sh42 billion with the formal mainstream segment accounting for only 60 per cent of it, according to the National Agency for the Campaign Against Drug Abuse (Nacada).

This means that the untaxed illicit brew market is worth Sh16 billion, which could now come under the radar of the taxman.

“There has been a serious gap where too much substandard alcohol has found its way into the market” said Jennifer Kimani, the coordinator of Nacada.

“The new law, as it is, has the potential of eliminating killer brews but its success will depend on how effectively it can be enforced, “ said Ms Kimani, adding that it will bring about professional distillers of traditional brews and bring the multi-billion shilling industry under the tax net.