Kalungu District leaders are pushing for tough new measures to curb excessive alcohol consumption after raising alarm over what they describe as a growing culture of daytime drinking that is undermining families, education and economic productivity.
District Chairperson Ahamada Nyombi Mukiibi has proposed a district-wide bylaw that would prohibit alcohol consumption during working hours and introduce penalties for habitual offenders whose behaviour disrupts communities.
Speaking during a community meeting in Lugalama Village, Bukulula Sub-county, Mukiibi said excessive alcohol consumption has become one of the district’s most pressing social challenges, with many parents and young people spending productive hours in drinking places instead of working or caring for their families.
He said his monitoring visits across Kalungu revealed that alcoholism is contributing to poor parenting, weakening household incomes and exposing children to irresponsible behaviour.
“It is unacceptable that people can continue to abuse alcohol and leaders are just looking and cheering them on. We are putting the generations ahead of us at stake if we do not rise to regulate the way our people should drink alcohol,” Mukiibi said.
According to the district chairperson, public drunkenness has become increasingly common, with intoxicated individuals frequently causing disturbances and using abusive language in the presence of children, a trend he believes is eroding community values.
To reverse the situation, Mukiibi wants all eight sub-counties in Kalungu to adopt a uniform bylaw banning alcohol consumption during official working hours. He also proposes hefty fines for people whose drunken conduct becomes a public nuisance.
He said the proposed regulations would encourage responsible drinking, improve productivity and help shield children from harmful influences.
Mukiibi further expressed concern about the impact of alcoholism on education, alleging that some teachers in government schools, particularly in rural areas, report to work while intoxicated.
He urged local leaders and members of the public to report any teachers found teaching under the influence of alcohol to education authorities for disciplinary action, warning that such conduct compromises learning and sets a poor example for learners.
Bukulula Sub-county Chairperson Hassan Bazadde Kaweesa backed the proposal, saying alcoholism has become widespread in many communities and requires stronger legal intervention.
Kaweesa said local leaders have previously tried to discourage excessive drinking through community sensitisation, but their efforts have achieved limited success because there has been no coordinated legal framework to support enforcement.
The renewed push for regulation comes as Uganda continues to grapple with calls for stronger national alcohol control laws.
Health experts, religious leaders and civil society organisations have long argued that harmful alcohol consumption is linked to domestic violence, road crashes, poor health, reduced workplace productivity and rising poverty.
Although Parliament has made several attempts to modernise Uganda’s alcohol laws, reforms have repeatedly stalled.
In 2022, Tororo District Woman Member of Parliament Sarah Achieng Opendi introduced the Alcohol Control Bill, which sought to replace colonial-era legislation governing alcohol production, sale and consumption with stricter regulations on advertising, sales and public drinking.
However, the proposed legislation has not yet been enacted, leaving local governments such as Kalungu increasingly looking to district bylaws to address alcohol-related challenges within their communities.
English 