Chief Nkambo of the Lamba people in Masaiti district has called on government to enact a law that would criminalize the brewing, selling and consumption of Kachasu.
The chief said Kachasu, which is a colourless distilled alcoholic drink with high alcohol content, has a lot of devastating effects on consumers’ health and national development.
He said this over the weekend during the Chibalankata traditional ceremony in senior chief Mushili’s chiefdom on the Copperbelt province.
He said the brewing, selling, buying and consumption of Kachasu has been devastating for his subjects and subjects of the surrounding chiefdoms.
Chief Nkambo explained that many vibrant youths, who were supposed to be catalysts of national development at chiefdom level, were incapacitated because they were drinking the liquor every day.
He said many young people were addicted to Kachasu and have since turned into liabilities in the chiefdom.
He said young men and women were getting drunk early in the day and remained unproductive the rest of the day, which he said had an effect on the utilization of time, human resource and other requirements for development.
Chief Nkambo further observed that youths addicted to drinking Kachasu were also found in many other parts of the country apart from his chiefdom.
He has since called on Members of Parliament (MPs) to consider enacting a law that would make the production, trading and consumption of the liquor a punishable offence.He said this action would help youths to be responsible for their personal and community development.
The traditional ruler also called for the promotion of the education of the girl child saying education was the key to a better life.He said girl children should be empowered through education so that they could also increase their opportunities to a meaningful contribution towards national development.
ZANIS
Ba Chief which Government are you telling? Not RBs governement. It has no EARS, NO EYES BUT ONE BIG MOUTH.
thats bad chief,
Chief u right man kachasu poison
No No No Ban tujijili then as well
Here we go again,,,,,,what happened to research and development. my argument is that banning this drink is not the solution because it only stifles peoples creativity. why not involve the university or NCSR to come up with a viable and safe way of brewing it and then punish those that dont follow the rules. This means the tax base is broadened, new industries are created, and zambian technical expertise is enhanced. this should be the way forward instead of embrasing everything from outside as being better. even china and India started from somewere,,,through trial and error to success…..”i rest my case”
I agree with last comment. The best is not to BAN, but to devise creative ways that would (1) prevent direct consumption, (2) give incentive to brewers to sell not to individuals but to designated outlets like breweries (the way some sell maize to them for Chibuku). The breweries would then repackage and sell on retail… I am told this is exactly how Yoweri Museveni dealt with the issue in Uganda!! People can have income from their ‘hard earned raw materials and labour on brewing Kachasu, but you provide incentive for them to sell property, ensuring control!!
# 5 you are the man. Exactly what i was thinking. We like quick solutions. Why not explore it further to make a better and healthy liquor? This could even be a powerful spirit if well explored over time. Very quick to shoot things down and no inquisitve minds to research, mukalashala ififine. R&D is the way forward in this 21st century what is so special about the Chinese and India who are developing that is so different with us Zambians? Now India will soon be refering to our countries as the third world as if they were not there yesterday.
#5 n #6 r spot on. the largest brewer in the world, SA’s SAB-Miller is actually trying to do the same, bottling traditional beer in SA. unfortunately, in Zed, we frown upon creativity n innovation. on another note, let the chiefs be educated as well. so called investors are making billions of $ in Zed on chiefs land, n chiefs r not reaping any tangible fruits from their property. they are the ones who really need to be educated because they are in ones in positions of influence.
Iwe wemfumu ngabakanya kachasu nomba ulemona ati tukalanya amenshi tatwakwata impiya shakushita chibuku ifye
You are right fellow bloggers. Banning kachasu is not the solution.
The was a time in Zambia when we had the No 1 Sachetes from Malawi and this was packaged kachasu.
So its a matter for government to support a company that could buy all the kachasu brews and then process into standard spirits.
Mwane bamfumu,why not encourage people go commercial?your thinking is backward sombi ubwalwa kani bwafuma kubasungu eli tunganwe pano aba kale bauku panga ifisunga shani,mwebo mulabile ati umu nkoyo nao uli illegal?fya chabe ifyo mulu kulabila,mwebo inchito kutwala aben Masaiti kuntanshi,musakamane pa bwalwa?