Nairobi ‘guzzlers’ face an acute shortage of drinking joints should a bill set to reduce the number of bar be passed. The bill is sponsored by the County Liquor Licensing Board.
In the new Bill , the board is seeking to slash the number of bars in the city from their current number of 12,500 to just 3,000.
The Deputy Director of the Liquor Licensing Board Hesbon Agwena, while appearing before Nairobi County Assembly Budget and Appropriation Committee, revealed that the move was necessary in order to tame the ballooning illegal outlets in the city.
3000 only
“We are looking at scaling down the number to 3,000 bars only in Nairobi. Eldoret, for example, has only 800 bars,” stated Agwena.
He further disclosed that the Bill would be tabled in parliament within the next two months.
He was grilled by the committee on Monday following a significant drop in revenue collection within the county, with liquor licensing highlighted as one of the streams that had recorded declining revenues.
Agwena revealed that were a total of 12,500 bars in Nairobi as reported in a 2016 audit.
He further indicated that in the 2016/2017 financial year, they had aimed at collecting revenue from 7,000 bars, while in the current financial year the board’s target was 4,800.
“We only license those that are in a plot and have a plot number but since most are on top of residential houses they cannot get licensed.
“If we enforced the law then more than 4,000 bars will be affected as they do not meet our set standards,” continued Agwena.
City Hall, in the 2017/2018 financial year, amassed a total of Ksh254 million revenue collected from only 5,000 bars across the county.
Should the assembly pass the bill or will it be a hindrance to ‘guzzlers?’