President William Ruto has announced plans to overhaul Kenya’s narcotics laws to introduce the death penalty for individuals convicted of trafficking hard drugs. The move marks the most far-reaching policy shift yet in the government’s campaign against alcohol and substance abuse. The government, he said, will move to amend existing legislation to provide for capital punishment upon conviction, warning that drug abuse has spread into schools, residential estates and rural villages across the country. To address the crisis, the President said the government would treat alcohol and drug abuse as a national development and security emergency. “We will establish a strengthened Anti-Narcotics Unit within the Directorate of Criminal Investigations, with operational capacity comparable to the Anti-Terrorism Police Unit,” Ruto said.
