Maravi

Tujilijili are killing the nation

Tujilijili are killing the nation
By The Post
Mon 23 Apr. 2012, 13:30 CAT

ON January 3 this year, we carried an editorial comment under the headline 'A nation of drunkards'. Following last week's ban by the government on the manufacture, distribution, packaging, stocking, sale and consumption of alcoholic beverages packaged in small sachets commonly known as tujilijili, we herein reproduce our editorial comment of January 3, 2012: "We understand why Kenneth Kaunda once threatened to resign as president of our Republic if Zambians continued to drink the way they were drinking.

The problem of drinking in Zambia today appears to be more than it was at the time comrade KK threatened to resign. The situation seems to be terribly getting out of control.

There is 24 hours drinking every day of the week, of the month, of the year. We have so many drinking places today that don't close at all. And everyone, young and old, has access to a drinking place or to alcohol any time they want it.

Restrictions on the sale of alcoholic drinks to people under the age of 18 are not enforced; these seem to be laws that only exist on paper with no one to enforce them. We have many children far below the age of 18 having unrestricted access to alcohol.

Alcoholic drinks are being sold and consumed everywhere, including on the streets. You can buy tujilijili anywhere, including on the street.

Alcoholic drinks are being sold on the streets, in tuntembas side by side with talk-time for cell phones. Anyone today can sell alcoholic drinks, no licence seems to be needed. Bus drivers are drinking tujilijili while driving.

Actually many of them have become so dependent on alcohol they can't function without it. A search of our bus drivers would certainly reveal that most of them are carrying tujilijili in their pockets.

We have even heard stories of some people going to church on Sunday with tujilijili in their pockets. Of course, the issue is not just about tujilijili. It's about the abuse of all alcoholic drinks, including Mosi and Castle lagers, and Chibuku. There is too much drinking everywhere.

And this is causing a series of problems, veritable chaos in the nation. One wonders what type of country, nation, Zambia will become in the next five to 10 years if effective measures are not put in place to control these abuses of alcohol.

What is worrying most is that the leadership of our country, political, religious and otherwise, is not talking about this problem in a manner that shows a sense of seriousness and urgency.

Parents in our homes also don't seem to be concerned about the serious dangers of this problem. They can see their children drunk every day, playing around with alcoholic drinks as if they were water or sachets of Mazoe, Jolly Juice, Crème Soda, Freezits or Zizila.

Even 12-year-olds are playing around with alcoholic drinks without their parents getting too concerned, too worried. The great majority of the accidents we have are being caused by drivers who are drunk, who are abusing alcohol.

This also applies to accidents at places of work, in factories and farms. The great majority of these accidents are as a result of people trying to work while they are drunk. Careless drinking is costing us many valuable lives through accidents.

It is also costing us valuable lives through poor health. There is a limit to how much alcohol the human body can take without being negatively affected. Alcohol abuse is also causing so many social problems. It is one of the causes of family breakdowns.

Many marriages are failing because of differences arising from or related to the abuse of alcohol by the parties involved. Alcohol abuse is also leading to malnutrition among children because instead of buying the necessary foodstuffs for the family, part of the money for ration is going to the purchase of alcohol by the parents.

Family life is also breaking down because parents have no meaningful time with their children because they are always drunk. Children are growing up not knowing how their parents look when they are sober because every time they see them, they are drunk.

This has serious consequences on the type of children we are bringing up as a nation. It is equally difficult to stop the spread of HIV in a drunken nation. We know that most of the people involved in illicit sex are those who drink. When they are drunk, every woman or man becomes very attractive.

Abuse of alcohol, uncontrolled drinking in a nation has a serious cost on business and industry. Billions of kwacha are each year lost in absenteeism and lost productivity.

Workers who drink every day or so often experience decreased productivity as a result of hangover-related absenteeism and poor job performance. Adolescents who use alcohol are more likely to report behavioural problems, especially aggressive, delinquent and criminal behaviours.

There is a strong relationship between alcohol use among young people and many emotional and behavioural problems, including fighting, stealing, driving under the influence of alcohol, skipping school, feeling depressed and deliberately trying to hurt or kill themselves.

Under-age drinking is dangerous, illegal and must not be tolerated. Let's make 2012 a year of fighting alcohol abuse in our country. Let's treat alcohol abuse like any other plague and combat it with all the tenacity with which we fight other dangerous plagues.

But political leadership is needed if we are to make any progress. Where the laws are weak or have been overtaken, there is need to urgently legislate effective and more appropriate laws. There is also need for such laws to be enforced efficiently, effectively and in an orderly manner.

We know Michael Sata already has too much on his plate. But this is a fight he cannot afford to ignore or to stay away from because not addressing the problem of alcohol abuse will have a negative effect on everything else he is trying to do.

We therefore urge Michael to provide the necessary leadership required to fight alcohol abuse. This is a serious challenge that requires the attention and involvement of the action man. We can't stand by and watch our people, our children being destroyed by alcohol.

If it means imposing very stringent but effective measures on the production and sale of alcohol, let it be so. Of course, there are people whose lives depend on selling alcoholic drinks.

No one is against them making some money. But there is a balance that has to be struck or tomorrow they may wake up to find there is nobody to sell alcohol to because people's lives have been destroyed. We also call on the Church to use its great moral influence and try to help address this problem."

This is what we stated in our editorial comment of the January 3 this year. We are glad that our plea, our cry did not fall on deaf ears. Both the government and the Church and indeed all citizens of goodwill have responded positively to our clarion call.

And as Beatrice Grillo, the board chairperson of the Non-Governmental Organisations Coordinating Council, has aptly put it, the issue of tujilijili is a question of what is better for society and not individuals. This matter now needs no further disquisition. The government has done what it needed to do. The ban of tujilijili should not be seen as a punishment on anyone.

The only thing that we can ask the government to do is to ensure that this ban is implemented in a fair, just and humane manner. All who are affected by this decision should be listened to. The main cry of those who had been manufacturing tujilijili is that they haven't been given sufficient time to clear their stocks.

It cannot be denied that they have invested a lot of money in the purchase of packaging materials and equipment and some of them are holding large stocks of tujilijili which, if not disposed of in a profitable manner, may leave them totally bankrupt.

It cannot also be denied that some of them were manufacturing tujilijili legally and as such should not be unfairly or unjustly punished for doing so. And as such, the government needs to either allow them enough time to get rid of their stocks or compensate them for the cost of such stocks.

As for those who were manufacturing tujilijili illegally, without the licences to do so, they should be made to meet the temerity of their illegal actions; there should be no compensation for their loss.

As for the ban itself, it deserves the support of all. There is no country that can survive this type of alcohol manufacturing, distribution, packaging, sale and consumption. Tujilijili are killing the nation and must be stopped at all costs.

For the nation to live, tujilijili must die. Tujilijili are causing too many problems; they are even compromising law enforcement itself because a good number of our police officers are moving with tujilijili on duty; they are drunk most of the time.

But we should not stop at tujilijili because, as we had pointed out on January 3, other alcoholic drinks are still being abused and also need to have their manufacturing, distribution, sale and consumption strictly regulated.

Labels: ALCOHOL

posted by MrK @ 6:02 PM