DCP’s Mbae decries loss of jobs expected with adoption of NACADA proposals
By Arnold Ngure, July 31, 2025Democracy for the Citizens Party (DCP) Secretary for Planning and Economic Affairs Peter Mbae has decried the loss of jobs that may be occasioned by the implementation of the proposed policies by the National Authority for the Campaign Against Alcohol and Drug Abuse (NACADA).
Speaking during a live TV interview on Thursday, July 31, 2025, Mbae dismissed the proposals as not well thought out, noting that several people employed in the entertainment industry could end up losing their jobs.
“When you look at the formulation of this policy, especially in the age issue, it means that people between the ages of 18-21 are going to lose jobs because handling means you are working in that industry,” Mbae noted.
Workers in the industry
“Many of them are the people who deliver and work in the industry. The bar owners were not involved in the formulation of this policy,” Mbae lamented.
He further questioned where the policy proposals originated from, noting that morality should not be forced down the throats of Kenyans.
“Is this something that came from up there, where things come from somewhere, and somebody gets a vision at night that because we are holy and we went to Sunday School, so we need to bring down that moral,” Mbae said.
“Where you stop focusing on what you are supposed to focus on, the holier than thou attitude sets in, and you drop some instruction because young people are taking alcohol; that is what this looks like.”
Unnecessary legislation
He argued that the rules are neither new nor necessary, pointing out that existing laws already regulate alcohol and drug abuse.
“The rules are not something generic or something coming up because of the need of the industry because there are existing laws, and second, these laws are illegal and unconstitutional,” he added, emphasising his belief that the proposed regulations lack legal standing.
In the raft of proposals that NACADA made, it suggested that the minimum legal age for handling, purchasing, consuming, and selling alcohol should be 21, from the current age of 18.
Similarly, NACADA proposed a ban on the use of direct and indirect price promotions, discount sales, provision of free alcohol, sales below cost, and flat rates for unlimited drinking.