Friday, March 29, 2024

34,000 Tujilijili sachets seized

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POLICE have seized 34,000 sachets of Tujilijili in Kapiri Mposhi in the first major crack down on the illegal trade since the Government outlawed the high-potent spirits.

Local Government and Housing Minister Nkandu Luo announced on Sunday the ban on manufacture, sale and distribution of the sachets after signing a Statutory Instrument on Liquor Licensing (intoxicating liquor quantities and packaging) regulation 2012 on the banning of Tujilijili.

Police mounted an operation in the busy Central Province location which is usually teeming with traders both on the streets and stalls, and seized 17 bundles of 50 kilogrammes each containing 2,000 sachets for sale.

Central Province Commissioner of police Solomon Jere said the sachets were confiscated on Tuesday around 20:00 hours.

Dr Jere said police swung into action in the town centre, but the traders scampered abandoning their merchandise.

A youth in business cashing in on Tujilijili (brandy or gin packed in small sachets)
File:A youth in business -cashing in on Tujilijili (brandy or gin packed in small sachets)

“I want to confirm that we have confiscated 17x50kg bundles of Tujilijili following an operation but we did not manage to apprehend any person because the owners managed to run away, leaving their merchandise behind, ” he said.

Penalties for people, who would contravene the ban, include a jail term of up to two years.

There has been an outcry from members of the public about the sale of Tujilijili as it is highly-intoxicating, while some people have died after consuming it in large quantities.

Meanwhile, Duncan and Gilbey Matheson, one of the producers of pre-packed spirits has complained over the decision by Government to ban the sale of the commodity as several firms closed down.

Company Chief Executive Officer Mannifred Ngweza said the Government should have consulted the industry before taking such a “drastic” move.

Mr Ngweza said his company and other industries which were manufacturing the pre packed spirits employed hundreds of people who would be left jobless.

“For instance my company contributes about K200 million per month to the ZRA revenue collection through various taxes,” he said.

He said the company had been involved in the production of Tot packs from 1981 and maintained that there had not been any person that had died after consuming the spirits.

Several companies that manufacture Tujilijili in Ndola have remained shut, with only guards manning the gates.

At Silver Spirits the guard said the company had been closed following Government’s ban of the sale of Tujilijili and that the last stocks were in the warehouse.

He said Silver Spirits manufactures sachets such as Royal Touch, Kick Spirit, Red Wine and Seven PM which management had locked up in the warehouse.

Meanwhile, management had placed a notice on the gate that the company had been closed for an indefinite period.

The situation at Champion Industries and Zen Industries which manufactures Hero and Goal sachets was the same as some workers were seen milling around the premises.

Amazon Industries managing director Kiaren Cadera said he had closed the plant awaiting a response from all manufacturers who were expected to respond to the Government’s decision to ban the sachets.

Mr Cadera said all manufacturers were supposed to meet so that they could present a common position to the Government.

[Times of Zambia]

44 COMMENTS

  1. There is no need to negotiate.It is better government loses that revenue than inflate the expenditure of medicine to treat those affected by tujilijili.This beer has caused fights in homes,streets,place of work and untold accidents.

  2. This years X-Mass parties in Police Camps will be big. Free Tujilijili’s on offer. So where will the Police take the confiscated satchets? The whole Police Force failed to arrest anybody because thei intrest was the beer and NOt apprehending anybody.

  3. Its sad people have lost employment. PF cheated us that they will create employment but instead they are sending people on the streets. Tunazigong’a

  4. I thot BOMA has banned the form of packging and not the manufacturing of the contents . Let these companies package in the normal 380 and 700ml bottles

  5. As much I think it is good idea to do away with these things, the way this is being done speaks volumes about the PF’s bull in a china shop approach to governance (act first, maybe think later!).

    Surely, before something that was legal can be made illegal there needs to be some kind of transition period to sensitize the nation and allow existing stocks to be sold. But instead the way PF did this was to make the announcement on Monday morning and expect everyone to step in line “with immediate effect”. Bull.

    34,000 unsold sachets? What is this something like K34 million taken out of the pockets of traders who bought the sachets legally just last week? I bet the traders who were running from the police (abandoning their goods and money) will soon become voters running from PF. 

    • Charlie, you’re too funny and only disgrace yourself. If you disagree, then talk sense and let’s debate – that’s what this forum is for. 

    • Chalie this man is toking sense. The govt was supposed to give the manufacturers time to sell all their stock. Moreover their are pipo earning a living from the sale of tujilijili or wateva u call it. Honestly am a PF fan but the way they are handling somethings worries me more. Thats why we nid pipo who are have a 5th generation of education not wat we have in govt now. Luo was supposed to be in health.

  6. There’s no need to negotiate. Government decision has been made and it must remain firm in the interest of its people. The closed companies should be advised to diversify into producing 750 ml bottled spirits.

  7. Law is weak for your own information, These guys can still start packing in class bottles and they will be within the law. since The Bitch said SACHETS

  8. untimely decission by Nkandu luo, this very beautiful woman should have consulted the manufactures to adjust the chemistry and make the sachet moderate, while slowly phasing out what was already on the market. Manje u make people jobless and also will you throw those tujiliili in zambezi river ? how will you dispose….ma rubbish

  9. the manufacture need not to cry over 200million tax, nor loss of employment continue manufacturing but pack in bug bottle that is wat gov has said. these small plastics like ice blocks were destroying our lives.

    • Total ban thankyou!! No repackage, no nothing this is poison. prepacked kachasu. No regulation on alchol content it may as well be liquid heroin. Ban it all, you certainly have not seen a tujilijili victim have you?

  10. I am very impressed with the Way Nkandu does her thing. Every time she is in Office, she will always come up with new Ideas. Keep it up Mum, we are Proud of you.

  11. WE ALL KNOW WHERE THE CONFISCATED TUJILIJILIS ENDED UP – THEY WERE DRUNK BY THE FEMALE COP WE SAW LOSING IT ON ZNBC NEWS LAST NIGHT!!!!!!

  12. Well done Prof, no other way of getting rid of the tujilijili demon but ‘cold turkey’. Dont feel bad for the manufacturers who saw it fit to sell this slow death to our people. This is a small price to pay for the misery and deaths this poison has brought on our nation. The means do not justify the end which is jobs or money – its like saying lets start growing opium or manufacturing cocaine for the purpose of job creation! If these are the jobs and income lost, let it go man, go sell some eggs!!!!

  13. All district Police Chiefs should do likewise! Enforce the law, confiscate all the sachets out there! There are still traders selling these drinks freely country wide. Come on Police Chiefs, wake up and do the needful! We want a tujilijili-free Zambia! The sooner the better!

  14. The thing to understand, is that a great number of things didn’t start out as legal, but were legalized over time. This includes a long list of things like guns, beer, cigarettes, reading, school, learning, religion, medicine, etc all started out as illegal. People were even killed for talking about these things, such as religion, etc.
    But as a people matures, they accept these things through regulation. Will Zed ever brew a drink such as J. Walker? How? If GRZ had the good of the people in mind, they should have regulated the jilis market, i.e. have a standard for them, like they do water, beer, wines and other brews.

    Poorly thought out actions such as these have cost PF their worth, credibility and the next election.

  15. But why not barn other spirits like Nikoli, J&B, Gilberts etc. is it because the packaging is differnet and are more expensive? if this is the case, why not tell the manufactures to change the packaging so tht the price goes up to make utujilijili un affordable?

    In my opinion therr is no logic to leave the other spirits on the market and barn tujilijili

  16. That is a woman of action, go Nkandu go, we need sanity in this nation. What we now want is a holistic review of liquor trading and consumption in this country. We are with you on this one, next move is to build suitable markets for street vendors.

  17. We didn’t cry over the barn of Kachasu when our mothers in the villages were making a living out of it. Why should it be any different now? Besides, it’s not really a barn on tujilijili only a barn in volume (size) of packaging. Advise to jijili dealers, go find something else to do and stop destroying our children.

  18. Too bad for the kaponyas who depended on selling the jilliz. I know too many of them at masala market in ndola. 

  19. Keep it up Prof Luo, that is indeed a good beginning. We want Zambia to be a Christian nation by practical like Islamic nations are. Our President said he will rule this country under the biblical principles. It was sad to see our children drunk as early as 08.00 hours. Like Mulenga said, my advise to jijili dealers, go find something else to do and stop destroying our children. Immoral practices should not be condoned just because people will lose employment. It is the responsibility of the Government to protect its citizens from illicit dealers. Even school going children were taking tujilijili in classroom. We are yet to see the side effect of the so called tujilijili in the years to come. Shame upon you dealers!

  20. Please bakapokola, do not feast on the tujilijili you have confiscated. Otherwise you will start dozing and put/rest your head on the enquiries desk and fail to take statements from clients.

  21. govt should have given enough notice for people to sell their stocks before effecting the ban. those who has stocks have lost a lot of money. I do not support tujilijili and actually if it were possible I would ban beer because it is the most abused drug in the country. Luo has missed the point because enforcement is the correct soultion: if it was ‘too powerful’ govt would have forced the companies to comply with alcohol content limit’. the ban looks like a not well thought out action which is like fire fighting.

  22. Job well done mum. It has been long overdue. I saw what this poison did to kids 20 years my junior on my visit to my home country Zambia last year. They now look like grandfathers. Better safe than sorry. 

  23. Aaaah, bakaamba ayi. Nabakanya utujilijili ayi. Kanshi natu pamela natwena bachite ban. Ni same kaili aini ba kaamba tafi pusene nangu fye panono.

  24. I don’t drink alcohol, and I believe that there is a problem with alcohol abuse in Zambia. Nevertheless, this action will have worse consequences. For one thing, they have suddenly bankrupted the traders who were making a lawful living and were given no time to prepare for the ban. If government wanted to be fairing in helping people, they should have bought back the spirits at a fair price, or stopped the manufacturing first and waited to go after the selling of sachets. Second, prohibition does not work in eliminating abuse, nor does making substances a criminal matter instead of a medical issue. The U.S.’s drug policies have not stopped drug abuse, but have fueled wars, vicious violence, and created a climate in which ever more potent and lethal drugs can be created.

  25. Once one drug is banned or made to be the “most dangerous threat to the American public”, another is created/discovered to take its place. Opium to morphine to heroin to cocaine to amphetamines to crack cocaine to MDMA to methamphetamine to synthetic marijuana (nothing like marijuana) and “bath salts”, the drugs generally get worse the newer they are. That’s not to say that legal drugs such as alcohol, prescription drugs and tobacco aren’t still abused; they are, and the government would do well to invest in more health-based drug programs instead of harsh sentences. I think that some European nations are doing better to restrict the harm of drugs, by not making it a punitive matter. By arresting persons for drugs or tujilijili, the government is doing more harm, not less

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