Africa has almost 200 million people aged between 15 and 24. According to the Federation of Kenya Employers, young people make up 40 per cent of the workforce, and 60 per cent of the unemployed active labour force.

This number is expected to double by 2045, bringing a big challenge to African economies, as high youth unemployment is a looming threat to stability in Africa.  

The federation says that although the overall unemployment in Kenya is at 12.7 per cent, youth (15-34-year-olds), who form 35 per cent of Kenya’s population, have the highest unemployment rate of 67 per cent.

Over one million young people enter the labour market annually without any skills, some having either dropped out of school or completed school and not enrolled in any college. 

This has been cited as the primary driver of young people to alcoholism, crime and drug and substance abuse.

And the remedy is straightforward: creating an environment that enables access to economic opportunities, rewards innovation and enterprise, and allows access to a decent education. 

The solution does not lie in “moralistic” prescription of regulatory behaviour to young people who have been pushed to the corner by bad policies by the governing elite. 

On July 30, 2025, anti-drug abuse agency NACADA rightfully warned that Kenya faces a multifaceted substance abuse epidemic fuelled by illicit and counterfeit alcohol flooding the market, weak enforcement and porous borders, low public awareness of risks, and fragmented stakeholder coordination between public and private sectors. 

It then announced a raft of proposals, which, if enacted into law and implemented, could criminalise the sale of alcohol in some places and probably cripple the industry. 

If the rules proposed as part of a new national drug policy are approved, alcohol will not be sold in supermarkets and at petrol stations, among other places. 

According to the “National Policy on the Prevention, Management, and Control of Alcohol, Drugs, and Substance Abuse in Kenya,” the size, packaging, packing, and labelling, including ingredients, health warnings, messages, and pictorials on alcoholic drinks will also be regulated. 

The proposals will have far–reaching implications on alcohol advertising and sale, and Kenyans must examine them closely and honestly.