Liquor ban enforceable after being gazetted—AG
Court issues aside, the ban government has imposed on liquor packaged in sachets would only be enforceable after the regulation is gazetted, Attorney General (AG) Kalekeni Kaphale has said.
Government’s ban last week coincided with a High Court ruling in Blantyre that banned packaging of liquor in sachets by Malawi Distilleries Limited, but the company immediately obtained a stay order, pending an appeal in the Supreme Court.
Kaphale, in an exclusive interview with Nation on Sunday on Friday, said government’s decision has nothing to do with the court matters, explaining that Cabinet made the decision to enforce the regulation.
He said the ban will come into effect after the regulation, which will specify packaging of the liquor is processed by the Ministry of Justice and gazetted.
The AG said Cabinet made the decision to help enforce the regulation under Section 96 of the Liquor Act which governs the production, marketing and distribution of liquor.
Said Kaphale: “It may take a week [for the Ministry of Justice and Constitutional Affairs] to prepare a draft for The Gazette. Once it is published, the ban will be enforceable.
“We announced the intention in advance to allow the manufacturers modify their liquor packaging.”
The AG said government’s decision has nothing to do with the matter that is in court between the Malawi Bureau of Standards (MBS) and [any] liquor manufacturers.
Kaphale said Cabinet met last week Monday and made the decision.
Asked about what impact this may have on the economy considering that these companies pay taxes, Minister of Information, Culture and Tourism Kondwani Nankhumwa said government weighed the benefits it gets from taxes and the lives and development of Malawians.
He said government felt that lives, especially of the young generation, and development, “are of paramount importance.”
Said the minister: “As responsible as this government is, we cannot afford to continue losing lives of young people to alcohol abuse when we are aware that one contributing factor is availability of cheap liquor packaged in sachets.
“This also has a huge negative impact on education and Malawi would be a cursed nation if this kind of alcohol abuse among students is tolerated to continue. We are saying ‘no’ to this. We want our boys and girls in class and in good form”
Nankhumwa argued that fears that companies may close and lay off employees are exaggerated because government is not closing them down but simply recommending packaging of the liquor in right bottles and without compromising on quality.
Said the minister: “It is a matter of those companies packaging the liquor in recommended clear and glass bottles and selling them in right places as prescribed by the law.”
He said companies that got into liquor business seriously and with honest intentions should be more than willing to comply with the law and remain in business and make contribution to the development of Malawi by paying taxes.
That hair do
Please courts are there to serve the common good of all Malawians (I mean voiceless, marginalised and poor masses living in rural and urban Malawi). But if there are there to serve the few elites and capitalists, then Kamuzu was right to empower traditional courts. If on this issues, the court (magistrates, high, commercial, labour and supreme courts are doing nothing to the welfare of Malawians, reduce them to rubble and promote TC to the prior status to begin bringing real and incorruptible justice to Malawi.