Editor,

Districts bordering Uganda should enact tough by-laws against illegal local brews. Destroying the liquor sometimes smuggled into the country, as it has been reported may not be enough.

I would like to suggest that the culprits get jail sentences and pay heavy fines of about five times the value of the retail price of the sachets of the local gin.

I also suggest that grassroots leaders seriously engage in the fight against drug abuse and crimes of domestic violence because they relate closely with locals on a daily basis.

Consuming that liquor can be fatal as local authorities and police in Nyagatare have warned.

In 2007, the media reported that over 40 people died in Kampala and other districts after drinking toxic waragi which was packed in sachets.

Health officials who examined the liquor said it had too much concentration of methanol.

Again on May 5 2009, the Saturday Vision reported that five people in Kasese, western Uganda among them a couple, died after consuming local liquor called Simba Waragi –which is packed in Kasese town.

In light of the above, there is need for stringent measures to prevent such incidences happening in Rwanda.

Nyagatare