CHAMBA , LIQUOR PROLIFERATION
By Christopher Jimu
The future of most youths in the country is in peril because of the proliferation of illicit liquor and chamba.
The illicit liquor include kachasu and it is being sold with reckless abandon with selling points popularly known as Dzikhuthe almost everywhere especially in Lilongwe and other surrounding districts.
A survey by CRS around Lilongwe showed that Kchasu is selling like hot cakes and to make matters worse it is very cheap.
In Lilongwe’s area one there are almost over 50 Dzikhuthes and over ten liquor shops.
In the same area chamba is also being sold openly with even some Police officers buying the product.
A Chamba seller who only identified himself as David said he gets the product from some influential individuals within the city.
‘I get this from some big men who supply me and that is why we are not arrested even when some Police officers come to buy the stuff. I have been doing this for a very long time and I make a lot of money,” he claimed.
Sadly most buyers are young men and they mix the drug with kachasu which is sold in the nearby bzikhuthe.
A young man who identified himself as Phillip said with the scarcity of jobs he decided to start drinking heavily and smoking.
“I finished college and I cannot secure a job so what should I do. It is better just to drink and smoke to forget worries and remove stress,” he said.
But the consequences of drug and alcohol abuse is the falling apart of families with children proving unruly and some familes breaking up according to Drug Fight Malawi Executive Director Nelson Zakeyu.
”Drug and alcohol abuse is a big concern and there is neeed for more collaboration by all stakeholders from families, NGO’s, churches and government to end this dangerous and risky habit,’ Zakeyu is on record to have said.
