To regulate or not to regulate alcohol

Norbert Mao

What you need to know:

  • Regulating alcohol is an uphill task. Bars are the main source of income for many people. Alcohol is seen as a consolation.
  • Did Madam Teacher take it for granted that the Class Monitor would always follow her lead? Or did the Class Monitor wait for just one opportunity to fault the venerable Madam Teacher’s judgment. No one knows for certain.

Mukono Municipality MP Betty Nambooze wants those who have been drinking with reckless abandon to be subjected to some restrictions. The proposal has stirred a storm. Or to put it more colourfully, it has stirred a storm in a beer mug.
However, she has to overcome stiff opposition. Lubaga North MP Moses Kasibante has vowed that the Bill shall not pass. Their disagreement has been so loud, vile and public. Nambooze has even gone to the extent of apologising to the voters of Lubaga North for ever supporting Kasibante’s re-election bid. Kasibante on his part has proclaimed, ala Donald Trump that he is now “unshackled”!
Nevertheless, Nambooze’s proposal is well-intentioned. The two as we know, dating back from the days of the political outfit known as Ssuubi 2011 have been political allies. One is affectionately known as Madam Teacher, while the other is the Class Monitor.

Did Madam Teacher take it for granted that the Class Monitor would always follow her lead? Or did the Class Monitor wait for just one opportunity to fault the venerable Madam Teacher’s judgment. No one knows for certain. What is certain is that the mud continues to fly.
Uganda has a very young population. More than 70 per cent of Uganda’s population is below the age of 30. Many youth are well acquainted with alcohol. A night visit to Oasis Mall will reveal small gatherings of young people at the parking lot busy imbibing alcohol which they can easily buy from Nakumatt Supermarket. In places like Kabalagala, which has the highest concentration of bars per square metre, it is not unusual to find people in various stages of inebriation in the mid-morning hours of a typical working day. In my hometown of Gulu sachets of hard liquor are dangled around by the young, the old, men and women. At one time, Buganda Pub, along the Kampala Highway was said to be the one bar that sells the most beer in the whole of Uganda. There is a problem.

There are a number of scattered regulations regarding alcohol in our law books. The most notorious one is the “Enguli Act” - a colonial relic to suppress the production, sale and consumption of locally brewed or distilled alcohol. Nambooze should aim at consolidation to eliminate confusion and conflicts between various laws. The new proposal should also empower local governments to play their part in the endeavour.
We need to be clear about what our Minimum Legal Drinking Age (MLDA) is. Are we going to say whoever is old enough to vote should be allowed to drink? Or shall be take a lesson from those countries where beer is allowed from the age of 18 but liquor is only allowed from the age of 21. We need a clear ban on selling alcohol to underage people.

Days and hours of sale of alcohol can be regulated. Some models regulate outlet densities (that is allowing a few outlets to monopolise production, distribution and sale). This limits physical access to alcohol by specifying the types of shops that sell alcohol and their location. In Uganda, what we have is what in common parlance is called “bufundas”. A pharmacy or a hardware outlet during the day quickly metamorphoses into a drinking joint at dusk.
On premise outlets (where people drink at the point of purchase) generally require more regulation in terms of drinking hours. Regulation makes sense because excess consumption of alcohol poses a health risk, encourages public drunkenness making some people become a public nuisance, provokes violence and escalates cases of drunken driving. Off premise outlets (where there are take away sales) are generally less regulated save in terms of age restrictions.

Regulating alcohol is an uphill task. Bars are the main source of income for many people. Alcohol is seen as a consolation. Any form of regulation will face resistance. It is a political minefield that populist and fainthearted politicians cannot dare tread. Widespread poverty is a major driver of the booze economy with low rent areas comprising mainly of bed sitters having a higher density of bars. The menfolk in particular will hang around a nearby drinking joint, eat some roast meat and just head home to sleep. For others alcohol induces temporary deafness to the many complains and demands waiting at home. But again as one sage said, those who drink to drown their sorrows should be reminded that sorrow can swim.