22 Held in Kenya as Toll From Home Brew Rises to at Least 114

Police have arrested 22 people suspected of making an illegal home brew laced with methanol that has killed at least 114 people, a Kenyan police spokesman said Saturday.

Among the suspects is a director of a small chemical company that local news reports say could be the source of the brew. The East African Standard newspaper reported that Samuel Njoroge Karanja was arrested Friday outside his Oleo Chemical Industry premises in Nairobi’s Kariobangi slum.

Kenyan police are combing Nairobi and an area north of the capital where they suspect the brew is still being sold despite widespread publicity about its dangers, according to spokesman Peter Kimanthi. He confirmed that Karanja was one of many suspects.

“A lot of these people are taking it for granted--they say you die when your time comes,” Kimanthi said. “But we are not going to tire from telling them to stop. Those with ears will hear.”

The private Kenya Television Network put the death toll at 128, but Kimanthi said he could not confirm the figure, adding that people are still being hospitalized.

The brew, which first hit the streets Tuesday, has permanently blinded at least 80 of the 400 hospitalized, according to news reports.

The deaths occurred in Nairobi and in Kiambu district, 20 miles north of the capital, Kimanthi said.

The home brew, known as changaa, is popular among Kenya’s poor because it is cheap and extremely strong. Ingredients range from fermented corn and sorghum meal to juice from coconut and sugar cane.

In recent years, however, and mostly in urban areas, high-octane fuel and mentholated spirit have been added to enhance potency.

A glass of changaa costs the equivalent of about 12 cents compared with 40 cents for a beer.