Nairobi governor Ann Kananu has temporarily suspended the trading license of popular city club the Alchemist bar over alleged racism.
Kananu's orders
This comes after the swanky joint located in Westlands, Nairobi was heavily criticized following a video that sparked public outrage.
The Nairobi governor directed the county executive committee to come up with a comprehensive report in five days after which she will decide the fate of Alchemist bar.
"I have directed county executive committee member for the environment to institute a multi-agency task force and a comprehensive report of the same to be made in the next five days," the governor stated.
Confirming the orders, Nairobi City County Executive for Environment Larry Wambua heavily condemned the act stating that respect is paramount to all social races.
"We must protect our country which exercises immense respect to all social races and strongly stands against any form of discrimination and noisy pollution," Wambua said.
In the video that sparked controversy, a reveller who shared the video alleged that the security team at the joint was separating black people from whites and Indians.
The solution is not for black Kenyans & other black Africans to avoid going to the Alchemist and let Alchemist continue racial discrimination. The solution is to stop racial discrimination at the Alchemist and other places. How can there be separate queues by race? Apertheid? pic.twitter.com/45Fwn7i9Cy— Chris D. Odero (@Chris_D_Odero) May 31, 2022
In response to the allegations, the joint's management explained that the premise only has one entrance, defending that everyone was allowed in without discrimination.
"We have reviewed footage from the alleged incident and we’ve shared it for everyone to see. There is only 1 entrance line for people to come in from. There are people of every background in that line," they wrote.
While apologising for the incident, Alchemist management noted that they were shutting down the popular bar to allow for investigations.
Following the incident that quarters on social media termed as distasteful, 10 officials including the manager have been arraigned in court to answer to the racial segregation allegations
