Reporters say some of the jobless youth go to the extreme of vandalizing their houses, sell the doors, windows and roofing materials to rake in more money for their illicit drinking spree.

The central Kenyan youths harvest farm produce and even milk their parents’ cows at dawn to sell to quench their thirst. Some even steal family beddings and baby napkins.

Kamau wa Njoki, 26, from Kirinyaga in central Kenya recently shocked many when he and his elder brother Mwangi teamed up and demolished a three roomed semi-permanent house their late mother left behind and sold the building material, which they shared and drowned up at a local makavu den. Makavu is a potent drink made of honey and millet so common in the region and is brewed in some homes despite being illegal. The two now share a room their mother put up for them while in secondary school.

“It was a shock to us because the pair have refused to marry, cultivate their five acre farm and to lead a productive life, this is a lost generation,” said a village elder George Murimi.

Government's effort

The government is putting in more efforts to curb the act but it is on the ascendancy. In Kandara village in the same region, James Ndung’u removed steel doors and windows a five-bedroom house and sold them before disappearing for days at the local shopping centre. He used most of the money to buy a factory distilled brew known as kairasi.

His wife and two children had left him. He sold the only bed and mattress he has and now sleeps on the hard floor.

“We suspect he has gone mad or something but he is not alone in this village many youths are into this habit,” said Peter Moche.

“These latter day concoctions are so potent, highly addictive that men nowadays are in bars at day break when should be taking breakfast, ready to face the day,” he laments in reference to kairasi, Furaha and such other brands that entered low income market five years ago.

James Kaguthi former director of the National Agency Against Drug Abuse (NACADA) said the result is that society is faced with a lost generations of young people aged between 18-33 years.

“ Concerted efforts are urgently needed to stop licensing of new bars by the government and strict enforcement of laws banning illicit alcohol,” he stated. He called on religious leaders to join the fight against hard liquor.

A Central Kenya legislator Clement Muchiri said he preached against the drunkenness in the region in public meeting after noticing that many youths are always drunk but little has changed

He calls for new stricter laws to curb the potent drinks that in some cases have led to death and secondary impotency among men in the region.