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Story and Pix by David Ogot ©2002

The relation between alcohol and other drugs and substances of abuse has to be looked at very realistically rather than academically as they affected the whole cycle of the human being daily touching on you social life, money, family, job in fact everything.

This was said by Lieutenant Colonel (Rtd) Ayub Githiri a security consultant based in Nairobi during the third and final day of a workshop organised by the Center for Adolescent and Geriatric Outreach Services (CAGOS) for matatu (usually chaotic public minibus taxis) drivers and touts at the Marble Arch Hotel in Nairobi.

In spite of the numerous ways alcohol and other drugs affected us, we still used them unabated everyday. "All of you know somebody who drinks or smokes or we do it ourselves. If I invite you for mbuzi (roast goat barbeque) and there is no alcohol you would be very offended" Githiri illustrated causing prolonged laughter.

Kenyans considered drug taking in the form of alcohol and tobacco to be normal and yet "research has shown that these two drugs are gatekeepers to hard drugs. How many of you have families and yet you send your kids for cigarettes or tell them to open pombe (alcohol) for the wazees (elders) or drink in front of the kids?"

The Colonel asked them to take note however that this habit was extremely expensive with many people paying the ultimate price. "People die coming from parties when they are 'high'. Yet alcohol was a legal drug." Kenyans were therefore living between illegal hard drugs and legal ones. Many of the legal drugs like alcohol had numerous advertisements exhorting all and sundry to consume them. Things had got so bad that you even "have girls saying that men who don't drink are boring" while for the youth it had become "trendy" to drink and smoke. "Even girls nowadays were smoking Benson and Hedges cigarettes to show their social status".

Consequently we now had a drug culture as we associated alcohol and other drugs as going hand in hand with having fun. "We are there and the angle I am bringing to this now is of security and criminal."

"When we say today Nairobi is insecure what are we saying? If you draw a graph you will find related to drug consumption namely alcohol. Look at Umoja, Kariobangi, and Eastlands areas, crime rate is very high and so is alcohol consumption unlike maybe an area like Kileleshwa."

Colonel Githiri then took the listeners down memory lane as he reminisced on his escapades with chang'aa (fiery illicit distilled brew) during his youth as he described how he decided to supply the alcohol for a party in spite of limited funds. "We were just finishing school and were supposed to have a 'bash' in Woodley (Estate). So since you stay in Bahati (Estate) and have no budget to buy proper 'booze' you bring cham (nickname for chang'aa So I carried a whole jerrycan of cham in a bus. At the party we dipped pineapples in it for the ladies so that they can also feel good. This was very innocent, but what would I have said if I had been caught with that cham? But to us it was all very innocent."

Drinking thus affected your pocket and in fact was an extremely expensive habit even as you talked about smoking. "When you tell a guy to buy you a cup of tea for KShs. 20 he is complaining yet he is smoking cigarettes."

Why we have a problem is that the taking of these drugs "is an accepted habit and the advertisements say you are abnormal if you don't take them. So now everybody even ladies which was unusual before, take." As the situation is now "sometimes can't afford beer drinks, so go to mini-packs (sachet's) and there are so many now. So you just jump out and do your gunia (nickname for the larger 90 ml. sachets gunia being Kiswahili for sack) and give yourself 'direct injection'."

Githiri pointed out that even where matatu's were or turned round at the end of the route, liquor shops were mushrooming such that when the matatu was turning the touts even drivers grab a quick mini-pack. Thus the driver after swallowing some mini-packs "and a woman sitting next to him, with the music booming" feels this is the life. The tragic result is an increase in accidents as this is the person driving a Public Service Vehicle (PSV).

The spillover effect carried on to Kenyan schools. "When you saw people disobeying rules even in schools you know why." Cases of road rage were also increasing and even at night you could see a person come out of his car "and 'thwaks' you one, behaving very differently, because this fellow has not been drinking tea."

Drugs have no specific class that they affect, but affects everybody. Thus even as we defend our 'industries', we are also talking about our sons and daughters. "We have kids we are proud of, but what do we do, we introduce them to these drugs. After which we say they are bad people and criminalise them. But the problem with drugs is you don't come back innocently. The reverse road is very bumpy and expensive. Starting is very innocent and sweet" he warned.

At the same time once these kids were hooked they do not see any need to reverse the situation cos they feel already hopeless so does not see a better alternative to staying high. Ultimately one was buried in Langata (public cemetery) or if you were lucky, a fundraiser was held and people contributed enough to take you home to your village.

If this fellow who died was a tout especially then the gang he was associated with takes over saying "this fellow is ours" even as they throw bhang into the coffin. This is typical of gang bonding through drugs and is like an oath.

The public is also constantly duped by the advertisers who subtly associate alcoholic beverages with powerful things like simba (lion), "for power" and many others. Meanwhile a lot of us also had low self esteem. If your group called you hopeless it stresses you. You would even buy a shirt because someone has one.

Many cannot even control and the Colonel said that he even witnessed this when in the forces. "Someone who has had problems in camp goes to the bar and says he will only drink two. He keeps money in separate pockets then a buddy throws him two and at the end of the day that fellow will have done wonders. Next day he says 'afande' (officer) 'I don't know whether ni shetani (it is the devil)."

Many Kenyans do not know who they are and are not confident of themselves as they are but feel they have to enhance their image in order to fit some preconceived idea of themselves. "So when you leave here start finding out who you are," he exhorted them for this was one of the reasons leading to drug abuse.

Another cause of increased drug consumption in Kenya was our value system as participants answered that what they valued most were 'money, property and life.' According to Colonel (Rtd.) Githiri "one thing in this country we do value is money. So the person selling doesn't care. Advertisers will tell you to drink, smoke etc. for all they want is money. When I had gone to give a talk on drugs at one of the local stations they told me that 'the advertising cheques we get from manufacturers are fat and yet you drugs people want to tell people not to drink and so on'. But I told them that they have a moral responsibility to tell people what is right and what is wrong."

It as only by when people were thus informed that they stopped making choice from ignorance and made better choice from the vantage point of knowledge. "When I was carrying cham from Woodley, I was ignorant!" he pointed out causing spontaneous applause as participants immediately recognised the connection.

Accessibility was another major causative factor of drug usage as in Kenya all manner of drugs were easily available and so too was the temptation to use. "You wanted (to have) friends and since your friends were using the temptation for you to use is also high."

At the same time one should include poverty as part of this drug use curve. Many Kenyans did not have work so they used alcohol and other drugs to relieve stress or to get by.

Stress also existed in the Kenyan school system with too much work placed on the children with not enough time for extra-curricular activities.

One trend that had recently been noted Githiri revealed was that many of the drug peddler's being arrested were women. "How come most drug peddler's being arrested are women? Well you tell them that instead of going to Koinange Street (red-light road in the heart of Nairobi's Central Business District, CBD) there is an easier way." Thus many women and girls feel instead of prostituting themselves, they would rather sell drugs. To them it seemed not only easier but infinitely more profitable.

The press too came in for a scathing condemnation as the Colonel gave them a severe tongue lashing for making matters worse. This they did by constantly highlighting what hauls were worth whenever there was a drug bust and thus whetting the appetite and greed of Kenyans when they read the papers or heard on the radio or television of the colossal sums involved. Thus when the this fellow was offered a chance to deal or act as a courier psychologically in his mind he was "already set" he lamented.

Most children were not strong enough to resist temptation and not only liked experimenting but were very good at imitating. "You leave your house and your kid starts imitating you. How you sit is how they sit. Kids imitate so when you see girls salivating over Michael Power (actor in Guinness Stout beer advertisements) and admire don't blame them.

An air of fond nostalgia settled on the attentive audience as the Colonel graphically illustrated this point by referring to his earlier movie watching days. "In my days you come out of a (Bruce Lee) movie and everyone is a karateka and we would walk 'hiyaaaa' kicking parking meters. In just that short time we admired Bruce Lee and wanted to be like him. " If such messages or influences are repeated many times you come to believe in them and this is how advertising works. It works on surface perceptions.

Participant's related wholeheartedly to this in connection to their current occupations which one of them emotionally voiced. "People look down on us because we are driving matatus or touting. But there are graduates and other well educated people here."

But one could always do well if one wanted to the Colonel insisted. "The biggest problem we have is when you say hi kitu siwezi (this is beyond me, I can't do it) and when you even start telling a child this they (will) start believing. All these problems we have, we have brought with that attitude and saying we have been cursed or God is annoyed."

Colonel (Rtd.) Githiri emphasised strongly that anybody was capable of anything and thus the main thing when these participants went out to talk to others, their colleague's, peers and families "you want to show them that the choice is theirs and that they can do it. Success in life depends on how you associate with pain and pleasure. If you want to have pleasure throughout you will fail! Anything pleasurable throughout - watch out" was the emphatic point. This, Githiri indicated had been proved time and time again. "It is only when you go through pain that you can get pleasure. Success in life is to do with the pain," he went on giving examples of successful international Kenyan runners like Douglas Wakihuri and Catherine Ndereba who had to train and train and then some to reach where they did

. "So why do we want to teach our children life is associated with pleasure" he asked sardonically, adding "so what is easy? All this talk that drug use will make your life easy is rubbish. God did not create life to be easy." Worse still the downside with drugs also was the fact that once they hooked you it was very hard to stop. "Thus it affects you until God forbid, you end up in Kamiti" a maximum security Kenyan prison. Worse still was that for the drug barons it was a massive lucrative business "but when I lose my consignment, can't take you to court so I finish you." This also encouraged a flourishing business in guns and gun running further contributing to the crime situation.

The thugs also killed indiscriminately for the "thugs who attack you at 2.00 a.m. and one says casually kata yeye (chop him up), these fellows don't care because they are ' high'" on something or other.

Seemingly disturbed by this scenario one of the participants supported by several others indignantly pointed out that some of the main actors in the fight against drugs like the police were the ones who bring or allow the business to flourish.

More examples of this duplicity by the police were tossed onto the floor as part of the audience described how they had organised a demonstration against drugs in their area and instead of action being taken the woman was arrested and locked up and now another fellow is t heir selling drugs as if nothing happened. So they were it seemed quite helpless.

But Githiri disagreed entirely. "It all starts with us. Biggest problem that Kenyans have is that they like blaming others. But if you start monitoring your estate yourselves, you will be able to reduce crime and drugs. But start with yourselves." He agreed however that there was corruption among not only the police but almost everywhere as Kenyans had got to "a stage where you were felt to be stupid if you were not making money 'eating' (euphemism for bribe taking)." As a result Kenyans were now glorifying wrong to the extent of selling all kinds of drugs without a care that people were dying as long as they got money.

Geographically Nairobi Kenya's capital the hub for the region and this too was why the country was under attack. A lot of people and drugs passed through. The majority of the offenders were 18-34 years old i.e. young with no value systems. When you see University students stoning you this is typical of lack of values. Once again going back to his younger years he lamented the disappearance of politeness among the youth. "In my time people were polite and even young people stood up for elders in buses. But today" he concluded rhetorically?

There was only one way forward and that was taking "responsibility of what we do. I start with myself, then my kids because they cannot protect themselves, and then expand from there." The ball was completely in our courts and it was up to us whether we wished to continue the game.

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