Stripping drama as brews cough out bones, bras, rats, panties

While virtually no incidents of death-by-illicit-brew have been reported in Taita-Taveta County, locals continue to consume the brew with reckless abandon.

Following the untold suffering of many families thanks to consumption of the brew, the authorities recently launched a campaign to end its production and consumption.

During their crackdown on the outskirts of Voi Town, the authorities encountered all sorts of drama.

First, there was a ticklish, helter-skelter moment with drunks momentarily ‘sobering’ up and bolting at maximum speed — to escape arrest — when police stumbled upon a den where they were entertaining themselves.

At yet another locale, a female m’bangara (traditional liquor) brewer, upon being cornered and asked to submit for arrest, stripped naked and began wailing, protesting her innocence and asking them to leave her alone.

“Wuuui! Wuuui! muniache mie...siendi kokote! Hiki kinywaji ni halali (Leave me alone! I am going nowhere, this drink is legal),” she wailed, momentarily scaring the authorities away.

However, the brewer’s crazy antics to ward off the police bore no fruit. She was restrained and her 150 litres of brew (in three different jerrycans) poured into the thirsty ground.

Cultural identity

Much as m’bangara is a legal, traditional brew, once revered as a symbol of social and cultural identity, it has now joined the long list of brews targeted for prohibition, because what brewers serve nowadays is a pale shadow of the traditional stuff. There are allegations that sisal leaf extract and assorted chemicals are being added to make it more ‘conc’ and give it “power”.

At Mabomani, Mwakingali and Sofia villages where hundred of litres of the brew were impounded, when authorities spilled it on the ground, very strange things were found.

Shocking things such as bras and panties, and other paraphernalia usually associated with witchcraft such as bones, dead rats and cockroaches came out.

A local man shocked this reporter when he told him that some of the brewers do weird things including ‘bewitching’ drinkers to make them their regular customers.

“The brewers do crazy things. Some store the brew in containers stuffed with dirty women’s underwear and even panties soiled with menses. They believe these charms will attract customers, especially men.

“They believe that the witchcraft will “tie” (no pun intended) the men to their drinking dens, unhygienic conditions notwithstanding,” a Mabomani resident told Crazy Monday.