Of Khama`s anti-liquor campaign, his cronies and the overindulging Batswana

20 December, 2009 in Botswana

source: Mmegi
GASEBALWE SERETSE
Staff Writer

Last year, President Ian Khama intensified his war against drinking by slapping a punitive levy on liquor and the introduction of a raft of other anti-alcohol measures.

But currently the campaign sounds against the effects of alcohol abuse reads like a Stephen King horror novel. “Alcohol abuse is known to damage nearly every organ in the human body!” screams one of the ‘facts’ bandied about in the campaign. “Alcohol abuse contributes to more than 60 known diseases and conditions including cancers, cardiovascular diseases, liver cirrhosis etc,” says another.

But has Botswana always been a nation of drunkards? In his book, Building a Nation, Jeff Ramsay says that before the coming of the Europeans, Batswana brewed traditional beer (bojalwa ja Setswana/mokuru), which was of low potency. The beer was strictly for older men who [continue reading]

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