Northern MPs push for yeast ban

By HELEN TARAWA
NORTHERN MPs will be presenting a bill before the provincial executive council to ban yeast in the province in a bid to address law and order.
Ijivitari MP Richard Masere said homebrew production, in which yeast is the key ingredient, has become an avenue to earn quick income and women were becoming the main suppliers of the product to youths.
“It’s a major concern in the province and women and youths are purchasing yeast to produce homebrew to make fast money,” Masere said.
“Young people are finding more opportunities to purchase these products.”
Masere said homebrew had a very high percentage of alcohol in it so when young people consumed it, they had a hangover for a couple of days.
“That’s how bad the impact is and when they are drunk, they don’t realise what they are doing, causing grievous bodily harm to others and becoming a nuisance to the community,” he said.
Masere said the objective was to establish a bill that would ban yeast and also impose some penalties.
He said once the bill was passed by the council, those caught selling yeast would be fined K10,000 or face six months imprisonment.
He said the penalty for producers would be K5000 fine (maximum) or three months in prison and for consumers K1000.
“The reason why we want to put this in place is that issuing directions to shops does work because after six months, when everything goes back to normal, the problem is still there,” Masere said.
“By imposing a bill that we pass through the provincial executive council becomes a law in the province and the law is there for a long time.
“Those who break the laws will have to pay the fine or spend time behind bars.”