Kisii brewers have devised new ways of evading authorities and are now packaging their illicit liquor in water bottlers.
Those charged with fighting the vice have turned into accomplices and beneficiaries of the many years of trade and are now protecting the brewers.
The packaging of the brew, especially Chang’aa in water bottles makes it hard for authorities not involved in the plan to detect.
Catholic Church Priest, Father Lawrence Nyaanga who partners with the National Authority for the Campaign Against Alcohol and Drug Abuse (NACADA) to fight the illicit brews says police and chiefs who are supposed to enforce the law against the illicit brew have become the conduit in the illegal trade, protecting the brewers at a fee.
For instance, a home within an affluent estate in Bonchari, Ombata estate, is a major brewery despite it being less than half a kilometer from Gesonso police station.
“We will not win this war easily. This is because the same people who are supposed to fight the crime are the ones abetting it,” said Fr Nyaanga.
“You will always see police officers walk into chang’aa dens to receive their bribes, which is for purposes of protecting the illicit brewers.”
Fr Nyaanga added, “Even these kiosks in town that sell packed chang’aa, police and chiefs are part and parcel of the syndicate, which frustrates the authorities from ending the menace.”
Nyaribari Chache MP Zaheer Jhanda agrees with Fr Nyaanga and explains that chang’aa trade has gone hi-tech and brewers no longer need drums to do their things.
The first time MP believes that Chang’aa brewing must be eradicated as it undermines development.
“The brewers are now bottling their stuff in water bottles. These are among the issues we want the new Interior Cabinet Secretary Kithure Kindiki to address,” said Mr Jhanda.
Newly posted Kisii County Commissioner Tom Anjere told journalists that illicit brew which has contributed to increased crime in the area will soon be a thing of the past.
“What has negatively been trending; those homicides, those deaths, too much illicit brews you have been seeing here, should be a thing of the past. Those demonstrations you have seen, we must reverse that,” said Mr Anjere.
According to the 14th edition of biannual report on the status of alcohol and drug abuse control in Kenya, Kisii is among the leading counties in the country where illicit is found.
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The report prepared for the National Assembly and Senate by the National Authority for the Campaign Against Alcohol and Drug Abuse(NACADA) Control in Kenya showed that Kisii accounted for the highest seizures of illicit alcohol nationally.
The research showed that Kisii recorded a seizure of 389, 346 litres followed by Nyamira, 165, 579 litres.
The report covers January 1 to June 30 2021 and is published in compliance with NACADA Act, 2012.
Data on bhang seizures showed that Kisii came fifth nationally in highest seizures of cannabis with 602, 105 kilograms.
Chang’aa is one of the oldest and highly popular drinks, which apparently forms the economic mainstay among the Abagusii, after tea, coffee and pyrethrum.
At most rural homes in Gusii, one will find a person whose education became a reality, thanks to Chang’aa, Kangara and Busaa brewing.
While Chang’aa is distilled to produce pure whisky, Busaa is consumed in its crude form, where fermented flour is fried—cooked—on hot metal to produce what’s locally known as “chinkara” which is later mixed with water and slightly germinated wimbi flour.
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Virtually at almost every homestead in Kisii, many have benefitted from the traditional alcohol brewing because poor people who cannot afford scientifically processed beer, find this illicit brew the only available option for them to enjoy.
Yet, the colonial government declared this traditionally brewed beer illicit.
Despite it being an outlawed brew, students of anthropology agree that Chang’aa, Kangara and Busaa brewing has been one of the key investments in rural Kisii, which has paradoxically empowered people economically, especially in paying school fees to children in poor families.
Traditional brewers used to distill their Chang’aa using a sophisticated pseudo-scientific method that produced a replicated formally processed concentrated alcoholic spirit.
However, over time, crooked brewers started adding poisonous and toxic elements into the brewing, which has exponentially made the otherwise safe brew into a dangerous consumption.
For instance, some local brewers are alleged to use alkaline elements from expired batteries in an attempt to make super-concentrated. This in return has made the brewing very dangerous.
Traditionally, Chang’aa brewing is said to have been introduced to Kisii by the Nubians who settled in Getembe—present day Kisii town—around western part of Nyanchwa and south of Daraja Mbili.
The process involves a concoction of Busaa mixed with molasses. It’s then fermented for a number of days and turns into “Kangara” which is Chang’aa in its crude form.
After about a week or so, the “Kangara” is subjected to heavy boiling under intense fire inside a pot.
The pot containing half-full “Kangara” is mounted with three sufurias—one that fits the mouth of the boiling pot, has a small one strategically placed at the centre.
Beneath the sufuria is heavily boiling “Kangara” and to ensure no moisture escapes, rags of old blanket are tied very tight around the mouth of the boiling pot and the empty sufuria.
The third sufuria, which is same size as the one mounted on the mouth of the pot is filled with cold water. This sufuria is fired tight with the other one beneath it and it is also tightly tied with the one with the small one, which will receive the distilled Chang’aa.
As the Kangara boils, the moisture rises, and it’s trapped at the base of the second sufuria with cold water.
Since the entire system is tightly tied to each other the moisture forms into liquid, which is Chang’aa.
After every so often, the distiller keeps emptying the water any moment it starts getting to warm up. The replacement is done three times before the previously boiling “Kangara” is removed from the fire and discarded.
This is the process that produces very concentrated spirit that tastes more like vodka.
Those who spoke to the Nation on condition of remaining anonymous for fear of being accused of distilling Chang’aa pointed out that the brewing is not bad but the crooked distillers imbued more with greed have contaminated what was previously a good and healthy process to contaminate it with poisonous and radioactive elements.
“Most rural communities in Kisii depend on Chang’aa as a micro-investment. We have no land to farm. We therefore turn into this brewing in order to raise money and send our children to school,” said the villager who requested not to be named.
Chang’aa and Busaa brewing are viewed by locals as their economic mainstay and killing it will see many families vanquished in every economic sense.
This is the reason why one time fiery Kitutu East—now Masaba—George Anyona, became a darling of the local voters because, he frequently disagreed with the establishment’s crackdown of the trade.
In his view, Anyona argued that the colonial administration sought to outlaw Chang’aa and Busaa because they wanted to protect their industrial trade of beer and whisky.
He pushed back on the argument that the traditional brew was bad, stating that it was branded bad by the colonial masters who considered their brews as superior to the traditional one. BY DAILY NATION