The National Security committee has rejected a proposed law that would make 750ml the minimum size for a bottle of alcohol (see P7).
However the private member's bill, proposed by Wundanyi MP Danson Mwakuwona, will still come to the floor of the National Assembly. There it should be decisively rejected once again.
It is a contradiction to try and reduce alcohol consumption by increasing the size of the bottle. It might equally well increase alcohol consumption if the standard bottle of Tusker became 50 percent bigger than its present 500ml.
The concept is to make alcohol unaffordable for poorer or younger members of society who do not have enough money to pay for a large bottle. But this would just push them to drink chang'aa or crude alcohol. The situation would become worse, not better. It is a fallacy to believe that big bottles would reduce consumption.
Excess alcohol consumption can certainly become a social problem but it should not be driven underground by repressive legislation. It is much better that it stays in the open where alcohol manufacture can be regulated by government with proper safety standards and quality control.
Quote of the day: "The man who can drive himself further once the effort gets painful is the man who will win."
Roger Bannister
The first man to run a four-minute mile died on March 3, 2018
