Locals resist rules on mnazi drinking as popular custom gets out of hand

Locals enjoy mnazi drink at the Coast      PHOTO: STANDARD

BY STANLEY MWAHANGA

Producers, sellers and consumers of palm wine at the Coast have opposed government plans to regulate the popular drink.

Mnazi, as palm wine is commonly referred to, has faced many hurdles in its struggle to gain recognition as a legal drink.

Many people from Kwale to Lamu enjoy the drink because it is affordable unlike bottled beer.

The naturally fermented drink, popular among native Coastal communities, has often been regarded as an illegal alcoholic drink and is associated with most social ills in the family set up.

Enslaving men

 Cases of men abandoning their wives and families at the Coast are not new. The milky sap is now considered a home wrecker, enslaving married men who spend most of their time in drinking dens.

But besides being a source of income for coconut tree farmers across the coastal belt, mnazi is also the only traditional beer for the locals.

Mnazi enthusiasts have argued it is part of their culture because of the role it plays in cultural ceremonies like weddings, child naming and birthday parties.

“Mnazi is part of the Giriama heritage without which part of the community will not be there and that must always be considered by authorities seeking to legislate on its use,” says Ramadhani Mwinyi of Kaloleni.

But according to the Kenya Coconut Development Authority (KCDA), new stringent laws are to be introduced to deal with mnazi abuse by consumers.

The laws are meant to regulate consumption and bring sanity to the palm wine business. KCDA Chairman Titus Kadere Tunje argues that the proposed laws will also help protect the traders, mostly women, from police harassment and curb the trade of illicit brews within the consumption dens.

“We don’t want to breed an alcoholic nation. People should work,” Dr Tunje says. “Mnazi is legal and the laws are only meant to ensure safety measures and public health and sanitation are properly adhered to. We don’t want to see cases of police arresting people claiming they are selling illicit brew,” Tunje says.

But his remarks have not gone down well with locals in Makuti villages at the North and South Coast regions. They say the cultural drink was consumed during funerals or used to offer the gods sacrifices when communities were faced with hunger and starvation.

We found Mwamdudu Kazunga chatting with colleagues in a makuti village at Kikambala as they siphoned their mnazi in turns from a traditional gourd (Mboko).

Licking his lips, as he passed over the Mboko, Kazunga frowned at the proposed laws and demanded to know why locals were not consulted before the laws are enforced.

“We are responsible people who do our work and only partake this drink responsibly late in the day before retiring to bed,” said Kazunga, looking disturbed by the news.

But officials argue mnazi is no longer a cultural drink because it is the cause of many social challenges in the region.

Rooted in tradition

Despite the drink being deeply rooted in tradition, the once respected brew is under serious abuse. As early as sunrise, men can be seen strolling to their palm wine joints (mangwe) to take the intoxicating brew.

Some men have been known to abandon their jobs to drink till late in the night.

Daniel Mangi, the County Representative of Bamba Ward in Kilifi County, where palm wine is mostly consumed and abused, says the drink mostly affects the youth. He agrees with the decision taken by the KCDA, acknowledging that many youth who consume palm wine have lost their morals.

He says their capacity to develop the region has reduced considerably because they are always under the influence of mnazi.

Mr Mangi says nothing has been done over the years to deal with the problem, which he attributes to the cause of early pregnancies and high number of school drop outs in the region.  Boys as young as 16, engage in palm wine drinking sprees after abandoning their studies. “It has affected many youth in Kilifi, destroying their mental health and many do not think about their future or even strive to work,” said Mangi.

His plea is that drinking be left to the older generation and not strong men who are supposed to engineer development. 

Created slobs

Leaders at the Kilifi County Government, are also concerned that the brew has molded a society filled with slobs who prefer spending their time in mangwes instead of working. “Moral dignity has escaped our youth and a society of lazy individuals has cropped up,” Mangi says.

Tales of men squandering their entire salaries and pension on the local brew are rife, with wives lamenting that their men usually redirect their savings to the drinking dens.

Excessive drinking escapades have left a trail of misery, broken homes and frustration in families’, with men spending most of their earnings on alcohol.

Countless destitute children are out of school for lack of fees, scores of them loiter Mombasa, Kilifi and Malindi towns, some ending up as child labourers for lack of parental care.

With famine being witnessed in various counties within the region, scores of locals at the Coast have taken up palm wine tapping and selling as a means of livelihood, a practice that is not helping the situation.

The new regulations were drafted in consultation with the KCDA and stakeholders from all the six counties at the Coast and the National Authority for Campaign against Alcohol and Drug Abuse.

They are expected to tame many die-hard drunkards by regulating the operating hours for palm wine dens. Only licenced brewers will conduct business between 5pm – 11pm on weekdays, and from 2pm up to 11pm on weekends, laws that will knock many mangwes out of business.