Why Ugandans remain East Africa’s beer-drinking champions

The other day I realised why we (Ugandans) shall maintain our status as the drinking champs of East Africa. Last Friday I decided to walk home from work as part of my training for the MTN marathon that will take place in a few days.

I started the trek with good intentions, but got derailed a few metres from the office when I walked into a supermarket to buy a bottle of water.

All my good intentions flew down the aisle when I was confronted by an interesting sight.

The supermarket aisles were full of people having ‘one or two for the road’ as they waited for the legendary Friday jam in Kampala to ease.

In the interest of research, I had to join this bandwagon and confirm this was not an anomaly due to the advent of the jolly season, but actually a growing trend.

I have always wondered how roadside ‘supermarkets’ with seemingly empty shelves always seem to make enough money to pay rent, and why there is always a stack of plastic chairs that do not look very new.

Apparently a supermarket licence is cheaper and easier to acquire than that of a bar. Before issuing a license, the Kampala Capital City Authority (KCCA) and Uganda Revenue Authority (URA) are only interested in seeing the room/space and getting their money.

Plastic cups

The landlord just needs his rent, goods are easily sourced downtown. To get a beer licence, one needs to adhere to many safety checks and other unnecessary requirements.

The shelves around the cashier are always fully stocked with sweets, snacks and spirits.

As you go further into the shop the dusty shelves are laden with plastic cups, huge packs of tissue paper and diapers. The patrons form clusters of 4-5 all around the shop in plastic seats with a plastic stool serving as a table.

The dim lighting ensures an atmosphere of camaraderie and the lack of loud music keeps the conversations low key, with a few bursts of bawdy laughter.

The shop owner must make a killing on crisps and ground nuts as the snacks were being ordered as fast as the drinks.

I can imagine how it started. A guy walked into the bar, sorry ‘supermarket’ to buy a cold drink to ease the thirst caused by the jam.

Friday proggie

(That is another thing we do here; drink canned beer while driving in the jam. The traffic is so slow that there is no chance of making errors, and the police are more concerned with getting everyone moving.)

Perhaps there were no canned drinks, and he got a bottle of beer instead, and hopped back into his car. The jam was at a standstill and the beer was soon finished.

He went back and was spotted by a pal, they got chatting and were offered some seats as they proceeded to drink.

They moved the seats down the aisle and out of the way. Soon a text was sent, inviting a friend. Within no time, the aisles were soon full of patrons enjoying beer thus starting a trend of Friday proggie at the ‘supermarket’.

And someone is still wondering why Ugandans lead East Africa in alcohol consumption?