Arthur Kimani

Kenya's current alcohol taxation policy is, frankly, plain stupid. This data underscores some of the serious negative consequences of a policy that appears to be backfiring, including a massive loss of government revenue. With such a dominant illicit market, the government is missing out on a substantial amount of tax revenue that could have been collected from legal sales. There is also the reality of a severe public health crisis since illicit alcohol production is often unregulated, leading to the presence of dangerous substances that can cause health problems, including blindness and death, completely undermining any public health objectives the taxation policy might have intended. Then, there is the issue of crippling legitimate businesses, with legal alcohol manufacturers and distributors who adhere to regulations and pay taxes placed at a significant disadvantage when competing with the much cheaper illicit products.