Death toll from Kenya illegal brew rises to 51
November 16, 2000
Culled from Reuters:
Web posted at: 4:50 AM EST (0950 GMT)
NAIROBI, Kenya (Reuters) - The number of people killed after drinking
illegal spirits in the Kenyan capital Nairobi rose to 51 on Thursday, with
many more losing their sight, police said.
Police spokesman Peter Kimanthi said the latest tally showed 51 people had
died and another 174 people were in the hospital after consuming the illicit
brew, known locally as chang'aa, on Tuesday.
Twelve women have been arrested for selling the spirit, although Kimanthi
said police had not yet located its source.
"We think it was brewed at some place other than Nairobi," he said. "We are
looking for that brewing place, wherever it is."
Kenyatta National Hospital was crammed with the victims of the brew on
Thursday, many of them blind, some writhing in pain.
"I started vomiting in the morning and then I realized I could not see --
and then I heard the guy we were drinking with was dead," one victim said.
Over 20 people died in the hospital on Wednesday, medical officials said,
while more victims continued to arrive on Thursday morning from slum areas
all over the capital.
One man died after staggering from the taxi taking him to the hospital, the
Daily Nation reported.
"The driver, unable to claim his fare, took the man's shoes instead," the
paper said.
Lethal brew thought to contain methanol
Nairobi's slums are packed with shebeens -- illegal drinking parlours mainly
run by elderly widows who compete for customers with the intensity of their
brew.
But problems arise when pure alcohol or other chemicals are added to the
concoctions to give them an extra kick.
"We think it (the fatal brew) contained methanol, which is outlawed in this
country -- it is a poison," Dr. Richard Muga, director of medical services
in Kenya's health ministry, told Reuters.
"If you take it, the first thing that happens is it compromises your
respiratory system . . . you go blind, and then you die in six to eight
hours."
There have been several other instances of mass deaths from consumption of
laced chang'aa in recent years, and newspapers urged the government to clamp
down on the industry, or at least legalize and monitor it.
"It is significant that though these brews are drunk in the open, most
provincial administrators and police officers have been turning a blind eye
to the menace," the Daily Nation said in an editorial.
"The only solution to this menace is to allow the brewing and consumption of
traditional liquors . . . and to insist that the drinks be brewed in
controlled environments so that their quality can be constantly monitored,"
it said.
Traditional spirits are very popular in Kenya because they are powerful and
cheap, although they were officially banned in the 1970s.


Essa
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