CHANGAA STILL CAUSING CHAOS IN SLUMS

By Nicholas Wamae and George Odhiambo

Many Kenyans have been adversely affected by the illicit brew ‘changaa’ in recent years. This situation is even more telling in Kenya’s sprawling slums where the residents find life difficult and less bearable. There are more unlicensed chang’aa selling dens than there are legal bars. Illicit brew is estimated to control at least 70% of Kenya’s spirit markets. Distilled from grains like maize and sorghum, chang’aa is a highly potent drink available in plenty everywhere especially in urban slum areas across Kenya.

Components of the drink
The rate of fermentation of maize and sorghum is sometimes increased by adding jet fuel or battery acid, which has the effect of giving the beverage more 'kick.' The water used to make the drink is often contaminated with faeces. Furthermore The Economist has reported that during police raids to shut down production of the drink, women's underwear along with decomposing dead rats have been found in containers used to brew the drink.

Adverse effects
An interview carried out on chang’aa consumers around slum areas in Nairobi found that drinkers strongly defended the lethal drink claiming that it has no adverse effects on “organized” and “responsible” men. They also state that it helps them forget the misery and problems they face in their daily lives.  In reality, many people have suffered blindness and death due to the drink's contamination by methanol and other solvents used to quicken the fermentation process. Ten millilitres of methanol can burn the optic nerve, and 30ml can be a fatal dose.
In Kawangware slums, brewers graduated from making the usual chang’aa, a product distilled from molasses (a residue from sugar mills) to a higher version laced with all manners of spirits that can cause instant death if consumed. Most of the consumers lost their sights after consuming the drink while others died instantly. The same happened in Machakos, 50km from Nairobi City.
Drinkers find themselves less productive and unable to meet their family obligations. Addiction to the brew has led to inevitable family breakdowns. A story is told in Kenya where whole schools in the district have been closed down due to lack of children to attend such schools. This is because men in the households stopped meeting their conjugal and marital obligations a long time ago due to alcohol consumption hence the women’s inability to conceive and bear children. Children who also consume chang’aa end up terminating their schooling which contributes to social problems.

Desperation fuelling brewing
Mary is a chang’aa brewer in Dandora. She depends on the profit she makes from the business to provide for her family. In an interview, she pointed out that one of the challenges she faces is that the profit she makes has to be shared with the police who demand large amounts of money to allow her to continue with the illegal business. The children in the brewer’s home do not find peace to study or even sleep well because the single room in which her family members live serves as both a home and a business premise. She sights desperation and a lack of job opportunities for her involvement in the illegal activity, a view shared by other brewers who choose to delve into the chang’aa brewing business.

Legalize Changaa?
Unlike Kenya, Ugandan and Tanzanian authorities have legalized the brewing of chang’aa. Quality control is the justification they give arguing that with legalization, they are now able to manage the brews ingredients thus reducing the number of fatal cases. This however has not seemed to work. In April, 80 Ugandans died and 20 others lost their vision after drinking a legalized version of the brew. This therefore poses the question of rethinking legalization of local brew, as brewing standards are not being met by unscrupulous characters who claim the lives of innocent people, simply to make a quick shilling.
The Kenyan government finds it difficult to contain excessive brewing of dangerous liquids that pass for alcohol. After so many years of law enforcement, training and practice, the police in Kenya are finding it an impossible task to fight the alcohol trade, with the force itself involved in propagating the trade through the involvement of shady policemen who extort money from the brewers and let them carry on with their business.
At the moment, the larger urban slum dwellers can only contend with the effects of the manufacture and consumption of the drink, all the while desperately hoping for a solution that will bring about change.