By Nasratu Kargbo
Chairman of Sierra Leone Alcohol Policy Alliance (SLAPA) Habib T. Kamara says alcohol sold in plastic sachets has high alcohol content which is very bad for the people.
“Alcohol in sachets is killing this country’’, Kamara said as he addressed journalists on the 24th May in Freetown on the harmful effects of such alcohol on especially the youthful population, after a stakeholders meeting by the NGO FORUT Sierra Leone.
He said most of those sachets carry 40% to 45% alcohol content, whilst a bottle of beer has 5%.
He said the strategy by alcohol dealers to introduce alcohol in sachets is to lure the younger population to buy their products, noting that they mostly use different fruits such as grapes and bananas in the package to entice the younger population to buy.
Kamara said that if such alcohol is expensive, demand for the product will reduce, noting that since there are some alcohols that are as cheap as five Leones, even children can afford to get them.
He recalled that in 2021 the World Health Organization (WHO) stated that countries should increase tax on alcohol, noting that the then government had a 15% taxation on alcohol and that the present administration reduced it to 10%. “That is the reason you are seeing cheaper alcohol, the more it is cheaper the more people access it and those that access it are the workforce of this country”, he said.
Kamara stated that alcohol is a registered substance in the country, but is not regulated, which has led to the proliferation of companies producing it. Citing a company called Punjab, Kamara explained that they were driven from Liberia and that in less than two weeks they came to Sierra Leone, registered, and started operations in Kenema. “The area where that industry is located is close to a school environment. For best practice, the alcohol industry should not be around school or healthcare settings. We really need to do more as a country to handle this alcohol issue” Kamara emphasized.
He said that the government spends around 21.2% on free quality education, but that a good number of those who should benefit from this education are in the ghettos drinking and smoking. He stressed that the government should put emphasis on the alcohol policy and the soon-to-be-introduced alcohol control in order to regularize the challenges encountered.
Kamara recommended that a multi-sectorial approach be used to tackle the problem, saying institutions such as the Ministry of Health and Sanitation, Trade, and Internal Affairs should come together and fix the problem.
He said that the country now has an alcohol policy that seeks to address issues related to alcohol and ensure it is not sold to underage persons.
He disclosed that FoRUT was very instrumental in supporting them to establish SLAPA.
Some areas of FoRUT’s intervention he said are alcoholism and drugs, mounting advocacy to reduce the harm caused by both.
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