Liquor Licensing

CHAPTER 2
Describe and explain the licensing provisions in the Alcoholic Drinks and Control Act specifically transition from illegality to legality. Evaluate the difficulty that hinders these traders to acquire licenses and also evaluate the reluctance by these traders to acquire licenses.
Introduction
The ADCA was borne with the objective of preventing deaths that were caused by illicit brew laced with killer chemicals, it is also key in the governance of the formal alcohol sector. One of the things that the act did, was to legalise the sale of chang’aa, (a type of illicit brew) thus forcing backyard brewers to come out in the open. This legality is subject to certain standards that the act has put in place such as inter alia being commercially

THE PERIOD BEFORE LEGALISATION The pre-ADCA can be called the prohibition period in Kenya beginning from 1980. There existed the Liquor Licensing Act Chapter 121 Laws of Kenya which was ordained to cover the formal market and the Chang’aa Prohibitions Act, Chapter 70 Laws of Kenya, which prohibited the manufacture, sale, supply, consumption or possession of chang 'aa together with the penal consequences that accompanied noncompliance.
Chang’aa was prohibited but, it was a drink that had dominated the market at that period. Since it operated under unlawful channels it was usually poorly monitored for quality and strength and hence it was not impossible to find examples of health consequences related to harmful impurities and adulterants.
This period is analogous to the prohibition period in USA because in both cases there was rise of an unintended consequence , which is the proliferation of illicit alcohol trade.
In Kenya, the history of the illicit alcoholic drinks is embedded in the culture of many if not all the tribes of Kenya. Commonly it is referred to as the traditional alcohol. It was an important item that reflected the social aspects of that community thus most of the methods employed are rudimentary and of low levels of technology, mostly particular to their regions of

They have been mandated with the task of issuing of licenses. The decentralization of such services is important in causing the people in rural areas accessing services which they would not otherwise have received if it was centralized.
These committees have been successful in the issuance of licenses but they have not been without fault. Their integrity and impartiality has been found wanting when put on an ethical scale. This is because there are traders who operate within the prohibited levels such as 300 meters near a basic learning institution as provided in s12, or where there are too many retail traders that exist in residential areas.
Pewa Street in Umoja is an example that was televised showing that, there exist at least 10 bars and hard-liquor stores in a space of less than 50 yards.
NACADA together with the District Committees recently have been exposed in a recent internal audit report on Management of Alcoholic Drink Revenue Collection in the Districts as fraudsters who have been embezzling the revenue collected at the various