Banned waragi sale continues
Sep 07, 2009
BARS and shopping outlets countrywide have continued to sell sachets of condemned spirits, commonly referred to as <i>waragi</i>, despite a ban of September 4.
By Anne Mugisa
BARS and shopping outlets countrywide have continued to sell sachets of condemned spirits, commonly referred to as waragi, despite a ban of September 4.
The measure followed deaths from methane poisoning resulting from the spirits. A cross-section of bars sampled over the weekend still had and sold sachets of different kinds of waragi.
The operators denied receiving communication from the authorities.
Brands, including 3R Zed, Coffee Spirit and Beckham Waragi, were on sale. “Since we had stocked these brands and cannot return them to claim our our money, we have to sell them to recover our investment,†a bar attendant in Kawaala, Kasubi, who declined to give her name said.
Several consumers expressed reluctance to stop taking the spirits.
The Government announced the ban following the deaths, which the affected communities had initially attributed to witchcraft.
A team of experts blamed the deaths on waragi made from methanol, which is poisonous. Manufacturers were also ordered to apply for licences afresh.
Efforts to get a comment on enforcement of the ban were futile as the officials of the Uganda National Bureau of Standards (UNBS) were not in office yesterday.
Health minister Dr. Stephen Mallinga, who headed the probe team, explained that alcohol should be made from ethanol and not methanol.
He said apart from the 19 deaths, 27 people were admitted in various hospitals as a result of drinking poisonous waragi. Some of the survivors have impaired eye sight and one person has become blind.
The minister said the Criminal Investigations Directorate was investigating the incident.
He also announced the reactivation of the Enguli Act of the 1970s, which prohibited consumption of unrefined waragi.
BARS and shopping outlets countrywide have continued to sell sachets of condemned spirits, commonly referred to as waragi, despite a ban of September 4.
The measure followed deaths from methane poisoning resulting from the spirits. A cross-section of bars sampled over the weekend still had and sold sachets of different kinds of waragi.
The operators denied receiving communication from the authorities.
Brands, including 3R Zed, Coffee Spirit and Beckham Waragi, were on sale. “Since we had stocked these brands and cannot return them to claim our our money, we have to sell them to recover our investment,†a bar attendant in Kawaala, Kasubi, who declined to give her name said.
Several consumers expressed reluctance to stop taking the spirits.
The Government announced the ban following the deaths, which the affected communities had initially attributed to witchcraft.
A team of experts blamed the deaths on waragi made from methanol, which is poisonous. Manufacturers were also ordered to apply for licences afresh.
Efforts to get a comment on enforcement of the ban were futile as the officials of the Uganda National Bureau of Standards (UNBS) were not in office yesterday.
Health minister Dr. Stephen Mallinga, who headed the probe team, explained that alcohol should be made from ethanol and not methanol.
He said apart from the 19 deaths, 27 people were admitted in various hospitals as a result of drinking poisonous waragi. Some of the survivors have impaired eye sight and one person has become blind.
The minister said the Criminal Investigations Directorate was investigating the incident.
He also announced the reactivation of the Enguli Act of the 1970s, which prohibited consumption of unrefined waragi.