Small plastic bottles containing gin allegedly laced with methanol. Photos | Issa Aliga
A House session open to all lawmakers on Friday heard that prohibitively high taxes on alcoholic beverages will secure a win-win situation for the country as discussions on the Alcoholic Control Bill, 2023 continued.
The session attended mostly by lawmakers on the parliamentary Trade and Health committees entertained submissions from the Ministry of Health and Uganda Alcohol Policy Alliance (UAPA) officials.
The lawmakers heard that it is critically important to combat addiction as Uganda continues to gain notoriety for a per capita consumption of nearly 10 litres that is unmatched in Africa.
“One of our biggest problems is the availability of alcohol,” Dr Hafsa Lukwata, the head of division of Mental Health at the Ministry of Health, said, adding, “We need to increase the taxes so that the prices go up and not everyone can afford to buy these products, let us leave them for those that are already addicted and those that are rich.”
Alcohol manufacturers have previously told the House that additional alcohol levies on their industry are both an ineffective and unfair way to combat alcohol abuse.
They have consistently cited the impact of job losses during a cost-of-living crisis as well as penalising a critical mass of people who do drink responsibly. Mr David Kalema, the UPPA chairperson, begs to differ and told lawmakers as much on Friday.
“We know that the government sources are dwindling. So once we raise tax on alcohol, which is an inelastic product, people who have been consuming alcohol are likely to continue consuming it because they are already passionate,” he said.
He added: “But also we will be able to deter the young ones and the novices from taking it up. That way we will use the money raised for other productive things. Don’t fear raising alcohol taxes [because] it will do us wonders in areas of public health and also as revenue.”
Other measures
Proposals floated on Friday also targeted alcoholic drink providers. In their joint presentation, the Health ministry and UAPA officials articulated the need to ban the sale of alcohol at petrol stations as well as restricting its use in public places. They agreed with a provision in the Alcoholic Control Bill put together by Ms Sarah Opendi that proposes to put the minimum legal drinking age at 21. It currently is 18.
“Most of the young people if they don’t start taking alcohol by the age of 21 … will never start,” Dr Lukwata said, adding, “We don’t want … to normalise [drinking] alcohol. Alcohol isn’t a normal product. I know we are going into politics and we are going to use it as a politicking mechanism. I hope we can have an alcohol-free election.”
The bill seeks to curb the sale and or consumption of alcoholic drinks in public service vehicles. Inset is lawmaker Sarah Opendi who is behind the bill. PHOTO/COURTESY
The lawmakers also heard that reconsidering product packaging will have a useful purpose. Health ministry and UAPA officials called for the mandating of health labelling on alcoholic drinks to alert people to the risks/dangers of drinking as well as calorie content and grammes of alcohol. Health leaders and campaigners believe that this intentionality will significantly downscale alcohol-related deaths and hospitalisations.
Political suicide?
The input of members on the Parliamentary Health Committee is thought to be vitally important. On Friday, however, only a handful of them were in attendance. This perplexed Mr Alfred Edakasi, the Kaberamaido lawmaker, who also sits on the parliamentary Trade Committee.
Mr Edakasi also said politicisation of the Bill could hinder lawmakers from acting rationally. He said, “there is already fear with some members saying, ‘how can my signature be seen [on the report]? It means I will have lost a vote.’”
Mr Gaffa Mbwattekamwa (Igara West) told the health leaders and campaigners that supporting the Bill in its current state and additions they proffered would be political suicide given alcohol’s central position in society.
“If you are trying to regulate my constituents who are making a living out of this, what have they been given as an alternative? You cannot tell my mother who has brought me up and educated me using alcohol to stop,” he said, adding, “We can tax alcohol, but at the end of the day we can only remove the poor Ugandans out of business. You are not going to remove UBL [Uganda Breweries Limited] who are producing it at a large scale. Even if you introduce a 100 percent tax, they will keep in the business.”
Mr Michael Kakembo, the Entebbe Municipality lawmaker, expressed the same sense of powerlessness as Mr Mbwattekamwa.
“I don’t know where this thing came from. It is as old as prostitution. Very hard to fight. For some people it is part of their culture. If you try to fight it, they look at you as if you are fighting them. In Buganda here without mwenge [alcohol] you cannot marry a woman,” Mr Kakembo opined.
He added: “If you stop them from taking alcohol, they will take other substances like aviation fuel and yet it is very dangerous. Some people take weed, in countries where they stop alcohol, for instance in countries like Somalia. People are taking mira.”
Taxes
On April 8, development partners supported the imposition of punishingly high taxes on harmful products such as alcohol and tobacco. They said the money raised from the taxes can help plug the gap created by the departure of non-state actors from Uganda’s healthcare sector.
The areas of immunisation, HIV/Aids, tuberculosis, malaria control, and infrastructure development stand to be adversely affected.
On Friday, Ms Susan Amero, the Amuru Woman lawmaker, said she would support the Bill if the revenue collected in such ways translated into sound service delivery and infrastructural development.
“When you get money from these drinks, where do you put it? I have been to countries like Singapore where alcohol is very expensive and indeed, it has curbed the level of people drinking, but there are services you can see,” Ms Amero said.
She added: “I agree with the issue that we should put a tax that will reduce consumption. But if we put heavy taxes on licensing, there is too much corruption. Even with the money you collect from these licences, people aren’t seeing services. I support the taxes on alcohol to be increased, but I want to see the services and money raised from these taxes. We want to see the services.”
Another crack at it
The Alcoholic Control Bill, 2023 is seeking to repeal the Liquor Act, the Portable Spirit Act, and the Enguli (Manufacturing and Licensing) Act. The aforementioned legislations are from the 1960s era.
Health leaders and campaigners are hoping that it does not suffer the same fate as the Alcoholic Drinks Control Bill, 2016. Fronted by Ms Betty Nambooze Bakireke, the Mukono Municipality lawmaker, the Bill suffered a stillbirth after facing resistance both from within and outside the House.
Ms Opendi’s Bill has firmly established its stance on prohibiting the sale of alcoholic drinks to specific individuals.
The Bill also is desirous of regulating the promotion and advertisement of alcoholic drinks, creating public awareness of the dangers of excessive consumption of alcoholic drinks, and providing for the rehabilitation, counselling, and treatment of addicts.
The so-called Opendi Bill also wants to consolidate all alcoholic-related laws and set tougher sanctions on alcohol consumption. This it intends to do by creating countrywide licensing, regulation committees and controlling the time for serving alcohol.
