By Rogers Mugabo
Excessive Alcohol Consumption is a key ‘driver and maintainer’ of chronic poverty in Uganda. Discussions on excessive alcohol consumption in the country have for long been in the back –seat of what is considered as ‘personal choices’ making alcohol a new frontier for chronic poverty in Uganda.
This mentality has hindered attempts to bring the issue into the public domain and the frontline of public policy because Policy makers and the general populace have deliberately refused to acknowledge that Uganda has an alcohol problem.
Recently a lot has told in research reports, Ugandan media and other development circles about Uganda’s worrying position in alcohol consumption.
In the 2004 Global status report on Alcohol consumption according to World Health Organisation (WHO), Uganda held the first position out of 185 countries with a per capita consumption of 19.47 liters per adult (age 15 years and above).
Since 2002 documented evidence from WHO and Ministry of Finance has highlighted excessive alcohol consumption as one of the key drivers and maintainers of poverty especially in rural areas.
This is further demonstrated by a recent research (2011) conducted by one of the local NGOs where too much drinking defined the social lives of people in Northern Uganda such as Oyam district.
According to the district Police commander of Oyam, the practice of too much drinking emanates from the effects of the prolonged LRA war that left thousands of people homeless, childless, jobless and comically disempowered. In a bid to revive the cultural norms that were disrupted during the war and as a way of forgetting the traumatic incidents of the war, people resorted to drinking in big groups.
Despite the high levels of poverty in the district, the little income earned from crops is spent on drinking massively. It is also noted that the practice is worsened by the introduction of sachet Waragi in the region which increased accessibility to alcohol. The sachet Waragi is also affordable to all and easy to carry unlike the bottled Waragi which takes month to ferment.
Consequently, children are deprived parentage, exposed to corporal punishments both at home and at school, early and forced marriages and coessential sex under the age of eighteen among others.
Gender based violence in form of physical and psychological harm or abuse and male to female partners’ risks of HIV/AIDS related stigma has increased.
Excessive consumption of alcohol has both direct and indirect effects on the poverty status of individuals, families and the entire community.
Apart from the money that is spent on drinking, alcoholics often suffer other economic problems such as low wages, loss employment opportunities, increased expenses on medical and decreased eligibility for development opportunities which are available at local levels such as Loans and government related schemes such as NAADs.
The cumulative picture for the country is that excessive alcohol consumption has negative impact on key human development, education, health and nutrition. It is certain that Ugandan society is forced to meet a number of additional costs due to the scale of drinking problem in the country.
These include the social costs of treatment, prevention, law enforcement, lost productivity. Thus, excessive consumption of alcohol generates a wide range of interrelated negative effects and outcomes as mentioned above and in addition, it alters investment in human capital development.
Challenges arise with the policies in place regarding Alcohol. Uganda lacks harmonized policy and licenses on the production and sale of alcohol.
Similarly, there are neither off-sales restrictions nor adequate levels of enforcement of any existing laws. For example, the age limit for purchasing and or consumption of alcohol beverages is set at 18 years; however, there is extremely limited enforcement of this.
It is also evident that there is neither restriction on advertising alcohol nor sponsorship of national events including youth assemblies. Enforcement of laws on alcohol beverages in government premises, health centers and education institutions is very inadequate despite a ban on them. Similarly, there are no restrictions on opening time of bars. Some bars are open 24 hours and 7 days a week more especially in areas around institutions of higher learning, parks, streets, workplaces among others.
The government should therefore create space for a sustainable and wide-range awareness campaign to permanently put issues of alcohol use and abuse on the country’s development agenda. A strong policy should also be put on alcohol production, sale and advertising.
Similarly, stakeholders such as development practitioners, political leaders, researchers , academicians, cultural and religious leaders should acknowledge that excessive alcohol consumption is a growing problem in Uganda which if not addressed could seriously limit Uganda’s’ social and economic progress thereby putting the country into deeper poverty.
There is also need of an interdisciplinary approach which bridges the gap between action research and policy analysis, and awareness creation and policy engagement.
The writer is a Human Rights Activist