Fri, 24 Mar 2017 15:05:56 +0000
Youths at risk as illegal alcohol floods the market
By MARY KACHEPA
Huge amounts of unprocessed concentrated pure alcohol are being imported into the country for blending into illegal spirits openly sold as Junta.
And Liquor Traders Association of Zambia (LTAZ) secretary general Expendito Chipalo has revealed that the illegal importation of liquor had reached unprecedented levels, claiming thousands of casualties especially among the youth,
Some illegal manufacturers were importing dangerous chemicals which they blended to produce a variety of highly intoxicating concoctions sold cheaply on the streets as liquor.
The Association has charged that Government institutions charged with the mandate to control the importation and local manufacture of liquor had “fallen asleep” and were allowing wholesale vending of dangerously potent concoctions on the market which have led to alcohol and drug abuse.
And Evangelical Fellowship of Zambia director Reverend Pukuta Mwanza said that the illegal sale of strong alcohol to youths should be probed by Government and remedial action taken.
Rev Mwanza said that alcohol abuse affected the moral conduct of a society, endangered the lives of the people that work with machines and contributed to vices like gender based violence (GBV) and child abuse.
“The timing of the sale of alcohol should be done after hours because then people have already worked and it should be done in designated areas,” he said.
And Mr Chipalo said that the association was concerned with the increase in the illicit liquor available on the market without details of the manufacturer, proper name and branding.
“If you go in these markets, a lot of people are selling hard liquor in small bottles, without information of where it is manufactured and misleading alcohol content, sometimes rated at 16 percent when in fact it is 100 percent,” he said
He said the University Teaching Hospital has been receiving a lot of cases where young people go to the hospital with symptoms of epilepsy, and then after examinations medical personnel discover that the problem was the taking of these same illicit liquor sold openly on the market.
“It is like the Government has gone to sleep and allowed the production of illicit liquor without licenses and our suggestion is that all the bodies that deal with the manufacture and trade in liquor should look into the problem and we are calling for a liquor policy,” Mr Chipalo said.
He said that according to the liquor licensing Act of 2011, liquor is only supposed to be obtained from a licensed store and all manufacturers are given a number which must reflect on every bottle.
“All these people that sell liquor on the street do it illegally and should be arrested because premises where liquor is manufactured and sold are supposed to be licensed and have a permit,” he said
Meanwhile, Family Tree in Zambia general overseer Clever Mambalakata has commended the Government for responding promptly and taking action by banning the sale of Tujilijili now known as Junta again.
“We thank Government and the Minister of Health for the quick response to the request we made to ban the selling of Junta. We are grateful because this shows that they have a heart for the people they are leading,” he said.
Mr Mambalakata expressed happiness that some councillors in Matero in Lusaka have started arranging for a clean-up of Junta in their wards.
“The ban will benefit us in many ways because the youths will become productive, unlike seeing them drunk all day long and many lives will be preserved,” he said.
