Police confiscate 150 cartons of sachet waragi

Gulu District chairperson Mr Martin Ojara Mapenduzi

GULU- Police in Gulu District on Tuesday raided several shops within the municipality and confiscated more than 150 cartons of sachet waragi as the district commences implementation of the Sachet Waragi Ordinance.

Last month, Gulu District local government passed an alcohol ordinance that puts restrictions on the sale and consumption of crude waragi packed in sachets and plastics less than 250ml.

Following the launch of the ordinance, businessmen selling sachet waragi were given two weeks to dispose of their stock.

Gulu District leaders, accompanied by the police on Tuesday, launched an operation to implement the ordinance with the first day targeting wholesale traders and distributors of the sachet liquors.

Gulu District police commander Martin Okoyo who commanded the operation, told Daily Monitor in an interview that the exercise will be carried out extensively to rid Gulu of sachet waragi.

“The operation aims at implementing the sachet waragi ordinance. Our target is to confiscate alcoholic drinks packed in plastics not more than 250 ml. Our operation is ongoing and we have not had any resistance,” Mr Okoyo said.

He said the confiscated drinks will be kept in the district stores pending advice from court on how they can be properly dispose of. Mr Godfrey Nyeko, one of the businessmen whose 32 boxes of Uganda Waragi were confiscated, protested the operation, saying they were never given ample time to dispose of their stocks.

“I still have a lot of stock in store that I wasn’t able to dispose of. Besides, we had been told by our local leaders that Uganda Waragi wasn’t on the list of the banned sachet drinks,” Mr Nyeko said.
He noted that he is likely to lose about Shs11 million out of the confiscated stocks, adding that the district leaders should consider extending time for them to sell off the goods.

But Gulu District chairperson Mr Martin Ojara Mapenduzi said the district will not reverse its decision, arguing that traders were notified in advance.