Murkomen Reverses Gachagua’s 2024 Directive

Interior Cabinet Secretary Kipchumba Murkomen has lifted the suspension of eight local administrators in Kirinyaga County, suspended by former Deputy President Rigathi Gachagua last year.
Speaking during a Jukwaa la Usalama forum in the county, he claimed that the chiefs, who had been interdicted over rampant illicit brew and alcohol abuse in their jurisdictions, had suffered enough.
As such, he relayed that the eight would be ordered back to their respective locations immediately. The affected locations are Mutithi, Kathiga, Ngomongo, Kianjogu, Kariukuini, Gitumbi and Kiandiiri.
All hailing from Mwea West, the administrators, three chiefs and five sub-chiefs suffered the consequences after over 20 people died from alcohol poisoning in the area.
“I have been told about chiefs. That one is being sorted. I have been briefed by the county commissioner, and we are sorting it,” he promised.
“We are evaluating the issue, and it was not their fault. They were fighting illicit brew, but when someone gets to court, they get released, so we are saying it is not their fault, and they should just go back to work.”
Gachagua ordered the suspension in February 2024 during a mass funeral of victims of illicit brew in the region.
During his two-year tenure as the deputy president, Gachagua championed the elimination of illicit alcohol, especially in the Mount Kenya region, stating it derailed the lives community’s youth.
In one of his earliest public addresses after impeachment, Gachagua pleaded with chiefs toprotect his hard-fought programme of tackling illicit brew in the country.
“Please, chiefs and assistant chiefs, do not allow the illicit brew that was killing our children to be brought back. We have done a massive job in addressing the issue,” he said during a funeral on October 30, 2024, in Limuru.
“The boy child is in trouble. You may push Rigathi Gachagua around, but please let the work that he did for two years, saving the boychild, remain.”
At some point, he even alleged that some powerful individuals in President William Ruto’s administration had been tasked with ensuring a steady supply of illicit brew in the region to weaken its influence.