Liquor crimes were reported to be the single largest reason for the jailing of women in Kenya.
A survey conducted by the Kenya National Bureau of Statistics (KNBS) showed that in 2017, 64 percent of the 8,004 female prisoners were found guilty of alcohol offences.
Statistics indicated that of the total 49,228 female prisoners, 32,062 or 65 percent were sentenced for liquor crimes between 2013 and 2017.
However, the Economic Survey 2018 indicated that the overall alcohol-related convictions among females in 2017 dropped by 35 percent from the 7,969 recorded in the previous year.
[caption caption="Illicit brew"]
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Notably, the overall number of convicted women in Kenyan prisons fell across all age groups by 24.8 percent last year with teenage convictions recording the highest fall of 85 percent from 211 in 2016.
The fall in female numbers coincided with the general reduction for alcohol-related convictions across both genders by 10 percent to 26,024 last year, which was the lowest ever recorded since 2014.
The government teamed up with NACADA and stepped-up crackdowns against the sale of illicit alcohol amid indications that more than 50,000 people died due to alcohol and drugs in the last ten years.
Interior Principal Secretary Karanja Kibicho in 2017 noted that Kenya was losing close to 5,000 people a year adding that the real cost of the lives was felt by families, the society and the economy.
"We have areas that primary schools do not have a nursery class because young men are not marrying,” Kibicho stated when he launched a crackdown on illicit brews in 25 counties.
[caption caption="Interior Principal Secretary Karanja Kibicho"]
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Governor Ferdinand Waititu is in the middle of a storm after his battle against alcoholism in Kiambu County sparked fury among liquor manufacturers and sellers.
