MP Nambooze to table Bill to restrict sell of alcohol

By Watchdog reporter

A Bill to control the selling of alcohol will be tabled tomorrow in Parliament.

If the Alcohol Drink Bill passes, the days for 24 hour access to alcohol in bars and the nearest shop in your neighbourhood will be over.

There are many complaints that more Ugandans are spending more time consuming alcohol than doing productive work. However, the same people spending their time in bars than work are also complaining about poverty in their households.

Betty Nambooze, the Mukono municipality legislator, will on Monday table a private members Bill, which will restrict among other things, replace the outdate Enguli Act.

The new Bill will also restrict the sale of alcohol before 5pm

The Alcoholic Drinks Control Bill, 2016 also seeks to keep alcohol stores or bars far away from education and health institutions to protect children and patients from the nuisance of alcohol.

In its introduction the proposed Bill says, “The object of the bill is to regulate the manufacture, advertisement, sell, supply and consumption of alcoholic drinks, the licensing of persons and premises on which alcoholic drinks are sold, to prohibit the sell of alcoholic drinks to specified persons, to regulate the promotion and advertisement of alcoholic drinks, to repeal the Enguli (manufacture and licensing) Act, Cap 86 and the Liquor Act, Cap 93.”

Nambooze says she is not after people selling or consuming alcohol responsibly.

The MP told Watchdog website that Ugandans should realize that there should be time for everything.

Police has attributed a number of accidents on the roads for example on drunken motorists, boda boda, taxi and bus drivers. And some have been arrested by traffic police.

However, the responsibility has always rested on the consumer not the seller. Nambooze’s Bill seeks to address comprehensively the problem. Both the seller and buyer should have responsibilities.