Parliament should make law regulating the food we eat
What you need to know:
Boda boda generation. We, the children of the independence era generation, inherited a culture of doing hard physical work in gardens and eating mostly organic plant foods. We were even lucky that in 1972, president Idi Amin chased away Asians. Sugar, salt, sweets, biscuits, cooking oil, processed foods, etc, disappeared. That was the time Uganda hardly needed dentists, heart surgeons or eye specialists. Today’s boda boda generation is perishing under the weight of junk food and sachet waragi (gin). Plastic rice, fake eggs and waragi laced with industrial chemicals are some of the items now endangering the very health of our nation.
At this very moment, I do not give a damn how the Supreme Court will rule on the petition challenging the Constitutional Court ruling on the infamous “age limit” case; the Constitution has lost its innards, anyway. And I do not give a rat’s tail whether the so-called “national dialogue” will ever take place; dialogue or no dialogue, we are headed for turmoil.
But I do care deeply about the way Ugandans of all age groups are suddenly dying. Today you are with some family member, neighbour, workmate, drinking mate or whatever, and tomorrow they are gone. Just like that. Increasingly, the sudden demise of our loved ones is caused by non-communicable diseases: Stroke, cancer, heart and respiratory diseases, diabetes, high blood pressure and many others.
Also, we are daily reading, watching or hearing news about the increasing number of Ugandans, especially women, who are getting fatter and fatter and dying from some “disease” of fatness known as obesity. Yet there are few or no guidelines having the force of law to prevent anyone of us from killing ourselves through what we eat or how we carry on with our lifestyles. Why is this so? What is preventing Parliament from taking a cue from the American Congress that routinely debates and passes legislation aimed at saving Americans from early death?
Every five years Congress, with advice from eminently qualified scientists, passes “dietary guidelines” expressly intended to help Americans eat more healthfully.
Similarly, Australia’s Physical Activity and Sedentary Behaviour guidelines and the UK’s Public Health England Guidelines are good examples of strong policy instruments the governments over there use to regulate citizens’ eating and physical activity habits.
By contrast, our country seems to run on saturated fat. Everybody seems to be busy deep-frying cassava chips, chicken, fish, pork, etc. Frying pans with darkish cooking oil (indicating reuse) are everywhere, from city suburbs to rural trading centres, markets and makeshift road-side kiosks.
We know from feeble warnings by the Health ministry that our sedentary lifestyles and unhealthy eating habits have become alarming contributors to the early death of our people. Yet there seem to be no laws regulating our behaviour patterns; if they are there they are not implemented.
Some young people may know that smoking marijuana is illegal. But most of them know that there is no law stopping them from smoking real grass, weeds and – hear this – the grey hair of senior citizens!
To make matters worse, 1.2 million of our youth aged 15 to 29 are idle, so says the State of Uganda Population Report, 2018. The report says the youth are neither in employment nor education or training. Apparently they sit around smoking old people’s grey hair freely gathered from barbers.
The behaviours, beliefs, values, norms and symbols that a society accepts and are passed from one generation to the next may be understood as culture.
We, the children of the independence era generation, inherited a culture of doing hard physical work in gardens and eating mostly organic plant foods. We were even lucky that in 1972, president Idi Amin chased away Asians. Sugar, salt, sweets, biscuits, cooking oil, processed foods, etc, disappeared. That was the time Uganda hardly needed dentists, heart surgeons or eye specialists.
Today’s boda boda generation is perishing under the weight of junk food and sachet waragi (gin). Parliament must, as a matter of life and death, enact laws regulating alcohol and food consumption.
Parliament must also strengthen the existing weak laws against counterfeit products. Plastic rice, fake eggs and waragi laced with industrial chemicals are some of the items now endangering the very health of our nation.
What Ugandans eat and drink must not be viewed as personal decisions. Public policy in general and Parliament in particular must strive to identify barriers to good nutrition in our country and promote opportunities for healthier eating by the citizenry.
Dr Akwap is the acting deputy vice
chancellor for academic affairs at Kumi
University. [email protected]
