NASA Presidential Candidate Raila Odinga Promises to Legalise Chang'aa if Elected President

National Super Alliance (NASA) presidential candidate Raila Odinga has promised to legalise chang'aa once he is elected President.

Mr Odinga on Friday argued that there is no current law in the Kenyan constitution that outlaws the traditional brew.

Addressing a crowd at Malaba Town, Busia, the Orange Democratic Movement (ODM) party leader asserted that the local brew, chang’aa and busaa, business was not a crime.

He added that the security concerns being experienced in the county were not caused by the brew, urging the security agents to hunt for the real criminals.

"The last time I checked consumption of chang’aa or busaa was not a crime in Kenya. Instead of launching a crackdown on people who are just out to enjoy themselves, police officers should go for criminals who have made the country insecure," Mr Odinga remarked.

The brew has been the subject of heated discussions with proponents agitating for it to be legalised. However, opponents have called for it to be declared illegal after numerous cases of blindness and death associated with the drink.

In 2010, the then President Mwai Kibaki signed into law the Alcoholic Drinks Control Bill 2010 repealing the Chang’aa Prohibition Act, which made it illegal to produce or consume traditional liquors like chang’aa.

The law that was former Naivasha Member of Parliament John Mututho's brainchild, made it legal to drink the brew without being arrested by police or local chiefs.

Mututho's law further outlined that the brew must be only be manufactured, packed, sold, or distributed in glass bottles of a capacity of not less than 250 millilitres.

 

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