Religious leaders are calling for a total ban on alcohol advertising and an extension of the legal age for consuming alcohol from 18 to 21 years.
They were meeting the mover of the Alcohol Control Bill, Sarah Opendi, and the parliamentary department of legislative and procedural services to give their views on the proposed bill.
The bill seeks to regulate the manufacture, importation, sale, and consumption of alcoholic drinks and also provide for the licensing of persons trading in alcoholic drinks and premises.
The head of Victory Christian Center Church Ministries, Pastor Joseph Serwadda says that children easily get lured into drinking alcohol and cannot differentiate between the different alcohol brands thus they need to be protected by completely banning alcohol advertisements.
“May I suggest therefore that the advertisement of alcohol be scrapped from our system entirely so that no kid ever gets to know what they become if they drink this or the other. Children don’t know the difference between Nile and Express beer, they don’t know what Guinness means, and once you excite them and show them the bubbles and colors, to them, Guinness is as black as Coca-Cola,” Serwadda said.
He also proposed that the legal age for consuming alcohol should be extended from 18 to 21 years, saying most 18-year-old youth are students and very young.
