BY Silas Nyanchwani
Just seen a sad video from Nyamira (it had to be Nyamira) where a chief is beating women for brewing and selling chang’aa. You can’t try that stuff in some parts of Kisii. A chief in some village I know tried that KANU BS, his house was burnt the following night and he had to be on the run for 15 years. He is yet to go back there.
There is no logical reason why women can’t brew and sell chang’aa. If anything, the government should just ensure that their chang’aa is safe for drinking. Our forefathers drunk chang’aa and they never died.
There is no difference between the chang’aa in the villages and the well bottled vodkas we take. We just need to ensure that it is clean and safe for drinking. We can empower women to start small wineries and make a living out of it.
We beat women who make the local economy thrive while we enriching western economies. Every Jameson you drink, every Jack Daniels, every John Walker, you are enriching other economies.
If we are to thrive, as young people we must reimagine how we do stuff. These born 60s are bereft of any imagination.
