Overview:
The Committee on Health is seeking views of various stakeholders about Alcoholic Drinks Control Bill, 2023, which seeks to regulate the manufacture, sale and consumption of alcoholic drinks.
Nile Breweries Limited (NBL) has rejected the proposal to limit time within which alcohol is sold in Uganda, and instead proposed to have bars start selling alcohol from midday and have no closure time.
The proposal was made by Emmanuel Njuki, Head Legal and Corporate Affairs at NBL, on Wednesday while appearing before Parliament’s Health Committee that is currently scrutinizing the Alcoholic Drinks Control Bill 2023.
Njuki wondered whether the movers of the Bill want nightclubs to open and sell soda to its customers.
“The clause anticipates night clubs will be open to sell soft drinks and music while restricting the sale of liquor after 10Pm. The night economy drives the Ugandan economy therefore, a law that impacts the night economy negatively impacts the economy of the country,” said Njuki.
“Legal alcohol should remain available in Uganda from midday in bars and no closing hours while distributors and supermarkets should be open at 8am to allow for dispatch of stock upcountry. Limited time may not necessarily translate into people drinking less and thus might be redundant. If at all, this could have the unintended consequence of increased home consumption,” he added.
The Committee on Health is seeking views of various stakeholders about Alcoholic Drinks Control Bill, 2023, which seeks to regulate the manufacture, sale and consumption of alcoholic drinks.
The draft bill seeks to regulate the manufacture, importation, sale, and consumption of alcohol and prohibits the sale of alcohol to specified persons such as law enforcement officers and persons below the age of 18 years. It also seeks to prohibit the sale of alcohol in passenger service vehicles and also intends to regulate the time of sale of alcohol.
NBL joins the growing list of stakeholders opposed to the Bill.
The Chairperson of Uganda Alcohol Industry Association (UAIA), Francis Onapito Ekomoloit, early this year said the bill would only be relevant if it targeted the 65 per cent of illicit and unlicensed alcohol in the market. He proposed that the title of the bill should be changed to ‘Illicit Alcoholic Control Bill.’
“This is so because 65 per cent of the alcohol consumed in Uganda is illicit and unlicensed. That is the bill that is needed,” Ekomoloit said, adding that the bill should exclude the 35 per cent of alcohol that is controlled and licensed.
“You cannot bring a bill to control what is already controlled because my group [UAIA] is dealing with controlled alcohol. We are fully having production licenses by law and that is a requirement by Uganda Revenue Authority,” he said.
Juliana Kaggwa, the vice chairperson of UAIA, and also Director of Corporate Relations at Uganda Breweries Limited, said the bill is bad for the country’s economy. “The alcohol industry is contributing 4.9 per cent of the GDP which is above one trillion shillings in tax. We are employing people in the entire value chain which starts with farmers,” Kaggwa said.
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