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"The government has been far too complacent about the problem of alcohol abuse - particularly among young people." Could it be the President has finally spoken?

Do not hold your breath for though this statement is an extremely accurate assessment of the situation in Kenya it was however made by the British Shadow Home Secretary, Oliver Letwin according to the BBC News website.

Indeed for the last one week Sky News beamed into Kenyan sitting rooms courtesy of media-shy Hillary Ngweno's STV has been bombarding us with images of a British society under siege from binge-drinkers.

Thus sweeping measures have been recommended by the Prime Minister's Strategy Unit contained in The Alcohol Harm Reduction Strategy For England.

According to Sky News, some of these measures include requiring the booze merchants to promote the sensible drinking message on their products as well as a review of the code of practice for TV ads to make sure that they were not glamorizing alcohol or targeting youngsters.

Other measures include better enforcement of the under-age drinking laws.

Last year, the Strategy Unit estimated the cost of alcohol abuse to Britain was at least 20 billion Sterling pounds (well over Kshs. 2,000 billion)

I have discussed many of these measures in this column for months including repeatedly asking President Mwai Kibaki to declare drug abuse a national disaster only to be greeted by deafening silence.

The only people who seem to be reacting are the beer and liquor manufacturers by reducing their prices (Safari Cane) some of which are so ridiculously priced as to be cheaper than candy while the brewers have a new beer (Senator) targeted at the lower income group.

Yet the binge drinking culture is already well established here. In Britain binge drinking is classified as a drinking session where at least eight units for men and six for women are consumed.

Eight units therefore are approximately four pints of normal strength beer, eight units of spirits, or eight small glasses of wine. This is more or less double the recommended intake of alcohol.

This tally's with African Air Rescue's (AAR) health education department definition here in Kenya where for example, "1 bottle of Tusker Lager has 4.2% alc. (500mlx4.2)/1000 = 2.1 units. Two bottles of Tusker have 4.2 units." They conclude the daily recommended units is four for men and two for women or two bottles of Tusker for men and one for women.

Now look around you at young people and adults alike two beers only? You would be laughed out of the bar. That is what I used to call 'ya kutoa vumbi' (the one's to remove the dust) before settling down for serious drinking. Yet the alcohol manufacturers are aware of these figures but only recently due to media awareness have they started placing empty warnings such as 'over consumption of alcohol is dangerous to your health.' What is over consumption?

Last year I suggested October should be declared an alcohol awareness month due to the coincidence that this was the month stories were doing the rounds in the media that President Kibaki had quit drinking alcohol while this was also the month that I arrived at Asumbi Treatment Centre in 2000.

I am now asking all Kenyans of goodwill to join hands and take up October as an alcohol awareness month- our 'Octoberfest' with a difference. This is because in the original Oktoberfest begun in 1810 by King Joseph Maximilian I of Bavaria decided to celebrate his marriage to princes Theresa of Saxonie with a simple horse race event.

But this soon became a gathering of happy beer guzzlers becoming so big that that was the end of horse racing and weddings in this meadow. Now in its 185th year seven million visitors drink five million mugs (very large and stronger than usual) of beer, eat 700,000 fried chickens, 400,000 roasted ones, 200,000 grilled fish while sharing 60 deer and topping off with 80 cows. Phew! And we talk about eating 'nyam choms' (roast meat.)

Ours should be a festival of information. Information through various activities which will be only limited by the boundaries of our imagination. Included in this month parents will declare they want to learn at least 10 (October is the 10th month) things about alcohol and alcohol abuse.

They will then make it a point to not only discuss these ten points with their children but also to inform one other parent about what they have learnt, who in turn will do the same.

Schools will call in parents and have them talk about alcohol while children will recite poems, display posters and read essays. All the while the media will carry messages explaining for this year, about maximum recommended units and in terms Kenyans can understand and easily relate to.

Churches, will make sure that every Sunday during October a sermon is dedicated to alcohol abuse awareness and dangers of binge drinking. Mosques will have the same on Fridays all these along with other activities they will organise for their followers.

In the estates we will meet with our neighbours in the church or school halls and talk about alcohol abuse with our children, for there are NGOs and CBOs and individuals all over this country including recovering alcoholics equipped with valuable information to give guidance.

For at the end of the day if you walk out of my office having learnt one thing about alcohol which you pass to a colleague aren't you a campaigner? You are, just as we all are. If we can do this together by the time December festivities come round hopefully this year there will be less casualties due to excessive drinking, all year casualties which usually peak in this month and the new year.

This time round let us show the government the direction, let this be a truly people driven show of unity in combating alcohol abuse during our Alcohol Awareness Month this October.

The writer is the winner of the Kenya Union of Journalists, 2003 Drugs Reporter of The Year award. A recovering alcoholic, he can be reached at goinghomedotcom@yahoo.com Website: www.goinghomekenya.org