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NEWS & CURRENT AFFAIRS

The Nairobian

Bar owners ask prison department to close down bar over cheap liquor

Rift Valley

By Antony Gitonga | Mar 28, 2025

**BAHLITA national chairman Boniface Gachoka.** [File, Standard]

A member of the Nakuru Assembly and the Bars, Hotels, and Liquor Traders Association (BAHLITA) have issued a one-week notice to the prison department to close down a bar it is operating in Naivasha town.

The parties have termed the new establishment as a threat to other bars, as liquor sourced from military barracks is sold at cheaper prices thus giving local traders unfair competition.

This came as bar owners in the town vowed that they would stop paying liquor licenses to the county if the facility located along the Nairobi-Nakuru highway was not closed down.

The prison department opened the bar last month and has been selling liquor at lower prices.

BAHLITA national chairman Boniface Gachoka said tens of jobs were at risk while the county government would lose millions due to the impasse.

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He alleged the bar, run by prison staff was not paying any licenses to the government while the liquor was duty-free.

While supporting the bar owners, Lakeview MCA Alex Mbugua noted that the county stood to lose over Sh100m in liquor licenses from the town.

Mbugua, who heads the Budget Appropriation committee in the county assembly, called on the CS for Interior to interven before more losses were recorded.

A senior prison officer who declined to be named defended the facility, noting that it was located within the penal institution and was working within the law.