Liquor sachets still rampant in Chitipa
Liquor sachets are still available in Chitipa despite government’s decision to ban liquor packaged in sachets to protect youths from harmful consumption of alcohol.
Chitipa district information officer Ed-Grant Ndoza said in a telephone interview sachets are still being sold in secret.
He said this is the case because vendors who purchased sachets in large quantities before the ban are trying clear their stock to recover their money.
Said Mwepa: “There are no sachets on sale in Chitipa. People who were in that business have switched to other ventures after government announced the ban on liquor sachets.”
Although authorities say sachets are not being sold in Chitipa, some concerned citizens confirmed seeing sachets in various places. The sachets are allegedly said to be common in shebeens such as Siyobwe, Vilisyala and Kambavi at Chitipa Boma.
The sale of liquor sachets was banned by government as a measure to protect youths from alcohol abuse.
A couple weeks ago the road from Mzuzu to Karonga was blocked when a truck had an accident on a bridge. As we were all sitting there for some hours whilst they cleared the wreckage another truck came to unload the goods of the wrecked truck. Under the watchful eye of 5 Malawi police officers (traffic dept) workers unloaded 1/2 a truckload of soya pieces and 1/2 a truckload (emphasis on truckload) of sachets destined for the far north. The police said nothing. If government was serious why would the police simply watch this happen?