By Moses Ntare
When you visit many of the shop outlets in Kabale, you find out that they are full of drinks without stamps of UNBS.
The Uganda national Bureau of standards(UNBS) is a body that ensures quality products in the country .
For the case of greater Kabale (including Rubanda and Kabale districts) it’s a different story. You will meet drinks like Mukiza, Agandi, Akandi, Tuganiire, Karigasoke and many others. In fact, the the drinks may exceed 10 but none of them has a UNBS stamp.
What worries people is that most of them are made locally, and are later marked that they are made from Either Mbarara or Kampala.
These products also with time, their bottles become bigger when the beer inside gets older to the extent of the plastic bottle bursting.
About seven years ago in Kabale district, there was a lot of “waragi” on the market. The competition was stiff that more suppliers emerged. The situation worsened until this “waragi” started killing people.
Now, these products come under the cover that they are energy boosters , that they increase sexual desires and so on.
When our reporter visited some of the suppliers in Kabale town (Names withheld) , and asked them about their feelings when they sell products without the UNBS stamps, they said they only need money.
They said that as long as they got money, they had no problem. They were too worried why the government was quite in that regard.
They say that they don’t know why the bottles become big in the long run.
When our reporter contacted the director of Mukiza drink, his phones were off.
The final consumers say that they will continue taking, and only God will save them, others say that they are worried why the government has kept quit yet people have been complaining about these emerging products.
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