Alcohol consumption increasing poverty among the poor

I read Orumuri every Monday and many stories show there is an increase in domestic violence. Mothers are maiming their husbands because of persistent unresolved conflicts and women have not been spared too.

Fathers have continued to murder their children and even defiling them! Extra-marital affairs are also on the increase. Reports from the Uganda AIDS commission show HIV prevalence is higher in married couples than in other groups.

As a social worker with vulnerable groups of people in rural area, I have found out that too much consumption of alcohol is one of the major causes of those problems.

Redundancy and spending too much time in bars and town centres are also to blame. Whereas the world prices of essential commodities continue to raise, prices for local alcohol remain reasonable. At sh300, one can can get a glass of enguli. With no graduated tax to worry about, and their children in cheap UPE schools, poor people who do casual work can afford this kind of price. When they have spent the little they earn on alcohol, they go home expecting to find food ready even when they have not bought it! The poor women who spend their time and energy digging are put to task to provide food for those who do little. This often results in fighting. Alcoholism has made some men leave their wives to fend for their families single-handed.

These men solely live to work for the bottle, are shabby and malnourished. There is great need to sensitise the rural poor about the effects of excessive drinking. The time bars and other places selling alcohol should be regulated. Alcohol consumption is increasing poverty among the poor.