Local Councils can stop waragi deaths

Nov 10, 2009

ANOTHER 27 people have died after drinking poisonous alcohol in Gulu district. This brings to 60 the number of the people who have died after drinking ‘poisonous’ alcohol over the last two months.

By Joshua Kato

ANOTHER 27 people have died after drinking poisonous alcohol in Gulu district. This brings to 60 the number of the people who have died after drinking ‘poisonous’ alcohol over the last two months.

Although most of the deaths have been in Kampala, Kalangala registered eight at the beginning of October, while others have been reported in Kasese.

Although the Government banned waragi packet in sachets, people have continued dying after consuming the liquor, which calls for more drastic measures.

Parliament is contemplating bringing new laws against alcohol abuse, while similar by-laws have been passed by some districts.

Gulu district chairman Norbert Mao says the fight against alcohol abuse should not only be left to Parliament.
“We at the local government level have a bigger role to play by setting up stringent by-laws to stop the sale of deadly liquors,” Mao says.
Indeed, by-laws have been passed in many parts of the country, including Teso, Acholi and West Nile.

However, stopping the consumption of waragi needs more than by-laws. The deaths can be avoided if local leaders become vigilant since they know all the drinking joints in their areas.

“I have carried out several operations in my area and in one, we impounded waragi worth over sh50m,” says Fred Bamwine, the Nakawa resident district commissioner.
About 10 people have died after consuming the liquor in Nakawa division.

“In Kawempe, we have areas like Katanga where people drink all day,” says councillor Ahmed Katono, a resident of Kisaasi.
Many times he has raided the area to stop excessive drinking.

Alcohol deaths not new

In the mid 1960s, tens of people died after drinking waragi, which forced the government to enact the Enguli Act. Among others, the act banned undistilled waragi and also left its production to only licensed companies.

However, the act was not effectively enforced which allowed illegal brewing to thrive. In the late 1970s, illegal brewers looted methanol from the Uganda Chemicals in Kampala and added it to waragi, leading to the death of over 50 people. As a result, Uganda Breweries was given a licence to distil waragi. Initially, the only known waragi distilling company was Uganda Waragi based in West Nile. At first it only produced bottled waragi, but soon moved to sachets. With time, many people joined the trade.

Cheap, easy to access

The waragi craze has been fuelled by the portability of the sachets. In Kampala Old Taxi Park, a driver is found sucking at a waragi sachet while waiting for his taxi to be loaded.

“There is waragi everywhere. Drivers and touts drink it all the time,” says a taxi driver.

Emmanuel Mukasa, a bar owner in Bwaise, says: “You can get a sachet at sh100. Everyone who wants waragi can afford it.” In fact sachet waragi is widely known as the poor man’s beer.

How local waragi is made
The deadly liquor is made using traditional waragi, whose raw materials are bananas, sugarcanes and sorghum. Because traditional waragi is expensive, brewers lace it with chemicals such as methanol, to increase its potency.

The traditional process starts with harvesting bananas and storing them until they are ripe.

“We then press them to produce juice. The juice is left for two weeks to ferment and turn into tonto, a local brew,” says Paul Musitwa, a brewer in Luweero.
Tonto is then distilled to produce emandule, a local gin. “The longer the distillation process, the higher the concentration,” Musitwa adds.

Emandule is so concentrated that it can light a candle wick or dissolve a piece of meat. The ‘quality’ of traditional waragi is gauged by how much one gnashes his teeth or sheds tears when drinking it.

Traditional waragi has been in Uganda for centuries. Regular drinkers say this kind, when well diluted, has no problem.
“Traditional waragi is rare these days, that is why it is expensive. A jerrycan costs between sh70,000 to 100,000,” he says.

In Kamuli, distillers add an industrial soap to a local liquor, known as ‘science. This waragi has, for years, killed people in Busoga region.

On Lake Victoria islands, a chemical that was used to poison fish is also added to waragi. “This chemical is corrosive even on metal,” says Patrick Mukasa, the chairman of Koome sub-county. He has since banned waragi on the island.

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