Anti-mairungi campaign in Maracha fails
Sep 19, 2010
<br>EFFORTS by Maracha district authorities to curb the production and consumption of mairungi have proved fruitless due to lack of legal backing and widespread dependency on the plant by locals for household income.
By Richard Adrama
EFFORTS by Maracha district authorities to curb the production and consumption of mairungi have proved fruitless due to lack of legal backing and widespread dependency on the plant by locals for household income.
The Kijomoro sub-county boss, Lawrence Alisiku, recently told New Vision that the plant is grown in large quantities due to the high demand for the stimulant.
“It is common to find vehicles, mostly from Arua and Koboko, converging in the sub-county to fetch the plant.
“We have laboured to sensitise the community about the health implications of the leaves, but the major hurdle is that the crop has not legally been classified as a drug,†he added.
Alisiku lamented that whenever the sub-county authorities attempt to round up prominent consumers and producers of the plant, the Police fail to find grounds on which to charge them.Â
“They (Police) end up asking us for the reasons we have arrested the people because the substance is not classified as a drug,†he said.
Wilson Olea, 64, a father of nine with two wives, who owns an acre of the crop in Nalibe village in Kijomoro sub-county, said he has sustained his family through the mairungi business.
“I have been able to pay school fees for five of my children with the money I generate from mairungi,†he boasted.
His son, Felix Dratema, said they earn between sh90,000 and sh120,000 a week from mairungi sales.
Parliament is yet to table a Bill regulating to growth and consumption of the substance.
EFFORTS by Maracha district authorities to curb the production and consumption of mairungi have proved fruitless due to lack of legal backing and widespread dependency on the plant by locals for household income.
The Kijomoro sub-county boss, Lawrence Alisiku, recently told New Vision that the plant is grown in large quantities due to the high demand for the stimulant.
“It is common to find vehicles, mostly from Arua and Koboko, converging in the sub-county to fetch the plant.
“We have laboured to sensitise the community about the health implications of the leaves, but the major hurdle is that the crop has not legally been classified as a drug,†he added.
Alisiku lamented that whenever the sub-county authorities attempt to round up prominent consumers and producers of the plant, the Police fail to find grounds on which to charge them.Â
“They (Police) end up asking us for the reasons we have arrested the people because the substance is not classified as a drug,†he said.
Wilson Olea, 64, a father of nine with two wives, who owns an acre of the crop in Nalibe village in Kijomoro sub-county, said he has sustained his family through the mairungi business.
“I have been able to pay school fees for five of my children with the money I generate from mairungi,†he boasted.
His son, Felix Dratema, said they earn between sh90,000 and sh120,000 a week from mairungi sales.
Parliament is yet to table a Bill regulating to growth and consumption of the substance.