Citizens call for laws to regulate alcohol consumption in Uganda
Following the World Health Organization (WHO) report which ranked Uganda as 1st in alcohol consumption in Africa civil society, residents of Bushenyi district have called for laws to regulate this consumption.
Apollo Kakonge, the Executive Director West Ankole Civil Society Forum said the report is an indicator that Uganda’s levels of production is low since the population spend most of their time on alcohol.
Kakonge added that although the country benefits from alcohol consumption economically, it needs to regulate it in order to have a productive population.
Nathan Byaruhanga, a resident of Bushenyi town attributed the high ranking to government failure to regulate the mushrooming of bars and alcohol factories which have exposed the population to alcohol consumption appealing for reinforcement of existing laws to protect the population against alcohol drinking.
Julius Byamukama, the health inspector Bushenyi-Ishaka municipality however said that the alcohol consumption is on raise in Bushenyi-Ishaka especially with locally-manufactured crude waragi attributing the challenge to low enforcement saying bars have no specified time for opening and this has led people to drink from morning to morning.
The report released by WHO indicated that men in Uganda consume more alcohol compared to women, with each consuming an average of 19.93 litres of pure alcohol compared to 4.88 litres of alcohol consumed by women annually.
