Mukono municipality Member of Parliament Betty Nambooze Bakireke is moving a private members bill to regulate Alcoholic drinks. Nambooze is fronting a bill known as the Alcoholic drinks control bill 2016 to repeal the Enguli Act of 1966 which is believed to not be a deterrent because of its weak penalties. She says that she is the right person to front this bill in parliament since she is part of the group taking alcohol, adding that the law is not punitive but designed for prevention and rehabilitation of alcohol abusers.
Nambooze proposes that the sale of alcohol shall be starting at 5pm to midnight on working days to encourage people who may think about taking alcohol to go for work. She says that the bill will regulate advertisement of alcohol including songs promoting taking alcohol, noting that though government gets taxes from alcohol it has not invested these taxes in addressing the effects which come with the abuse of alcohol like accidents, diseases and crimes.
She says that it will be illegal to sale alcohol to persons visibly drunk and there shall be no recovery through suit if a person fails to clear the bills for the alcohol taken and added that in this bill they will insert a section barring leaders from buying alcohol for the people.
The bill seeks to protect children from alcohol since there are many school children taking alcohol. Reports show that Uganda is ranked 8th among the world’s best drinking nations.
Uganda Alcohol statistics by WHO