ILLEGAL:Bars warned against entertaining U-18s

As government moves to tackle the problem of alcohol and drug abuse among the youth, a cross section of the public has come out to say that sensitisation on the dangers of excessive alcohol consumption should be put forward.   As the campaign to fight the vice deepens, the question of whether persons below 18 years should be accepted in bars has provoked debate. Whereas some say that under 18’s should be completely barred from entertainment spots, others maintain that they should be allowed in, and instead not be served with alcoholic beverages .Recently, the Minister of Youth, Jean Philbert Nsengimana, warned bar owners against selling alcohol to underage children saying, it was illegal and punishable by Rwandan law."The law is very clear; selling alcoholic drinks to a person who is less than 18 years of age is illegal. Once caught, they will be charged accordingly,” Nsengimana said.Innocent Ninsiima, Rwanda Youth Representative to the Commonwealth, observed that not every one that goes to the bar goes with the intention of drinking alcohol."Some young people go to the bar to socialise and hang out with friends, not necessarily drinking. Unless, they are going to ask for customers’ ID’s at the counter underage drinkers will continue to buy alcohol,” Ninsiima said.Alternatively, Ninsiima argues that, Rwanda should emulate the West where there are bars and hangout places strictly set for minors while others are for adults. He says that youth should indeed be protected from alcohol abuse but should not be denied the chance to engage and network in social activities.Seth Butera, a resident of Remera thinks this law will only worsen the situation and therefore it shouldn’t be implemented.According to Butera, age shouldn’t be the focus of the problem because youth will resort to consuming alcohol while in hiding.He adds that Rwandan youth should instead be sensitised on the dangers of substance and alcohol abuse because they can access it from anywhere."One wonders if reinforcing this law, won’t be a leeway giving youth the alternative to forge ID cards with ages above 18, so they can have access to bars,” argues Butera.During the high level conference on drug abuse among Rwanda’s youth that convened in Kigali, late last year, statistics provided by the Ministry of Youth showed that 22.6 percent of mental disease victims admitted at Ndera Hospital are drug abuse related.In 2004, the number of cases stood at 68, while currently victims of drug abuse who are admitted at the hospital are 742. This clearly marks an increase in drug abuse cases. Pelagie Uwamariya, a Youth Representative at Parliament, said that indeed more effort needs to be put in sensitising the youth against alcohol consumption."We need to intensify the sensitisation campaigns for the youth against alcohol and drug abuse more that we need to have the law implemented. The law has been here and always will but not everyone complies with it, we still have underage youth going to the bars despite the law. Some are unaware it even exists while for others, it doesn’t mean anything to them,” she said.The policy barring youth from going to bars has been existent for sometime but hasn’t been seriously implemented. Members of the Rwanda Hotel, Restaurant and Bar Association (RHRBA), recently,  pointed out that alcohol abuse by underage drinkers is a big challenge for bar owners and hoteliers in general.Nelly Ingabire, the Proprietor of Stone House Bar & Restaurant, noted this during a courtesy visit to various hotels, Restaurants and bars, last week."There are many underage youth going to bars to take alcohol and this is a big challenge for us. Personally, I do ask for identity cards at my bar for people who look like they are below the legal age for consuming alcohol,” she said.Whilst this is a big challenge, hoteliers are willing to help curb this problem.Silver Bihira, the Manager of Sundowner also states that their bar is against underage drinking."We have bouncers to handle such cases. We don’t allow young people here after midnight. Some of them even look like drug addicts but our bouncers always ask for identity cards and send those below 18 away from the bar,” Bihira said.According to Bihira, all bar owners ought to comply with this rule and help the Rwandan youth not to waste away. The most affected groups are secondary school and university students, taxi drivers and conductors, idlers as well as sex workers.Drug abuse and alcohol consumption have also been linked to various illnesses, crimes, prostitution, HIV/Aids prevalence, robbery, suicide, psychiatric problems, and unwanted pregnancies, homelessness, among other consequencesIt is against this backdrop that the Rwanda National Police, the Ministry of Youth, and Imbuto Foundation, launched a national awareness campaign against drug abuse and irresponsible alcohol consumption.In December 2011, a directive was re-enforced to stop minors, that is 18 years and below, from going to bars to consume alcohol. Theos Badege, the Police spokesperson said that it’s against the law to drink alcohol for youth below the age of 18."It is a criminal offence to serve a youth below 18 with alcohol. Bar owners should ensure that they request for ID’s before selling alcohol to the youth. This will scare the minors from drinking alcohol, if the law is enforced in the bars,” Badege said.He, however, could not specify the penalty anyone contravening the law gets.According to Bruno Rangira, the Director of Communication and Media at the City of Kigali, they issued a directive obliging bar owners to pin up posters and announcements discouraging youth below 18 to go there."We want to mobilize hotel and bar owners to implement this law so as to stop the problem of alcohol abuse by underage youth. They shouldn’t be selling alcohol to these youth,” Rangira said.Just like it is in some developed countries, some people think Rwanda should also have entertainment spots designated for youth below 18 years of age.Rangira, however, confirms that there will not be any special hangouts for youth below 18 years, but the Kigali City Master Plan makes a provision of community places in every neighbourhood that have youth friendly activities such as sports where they can go have fun without necessarily taking alcohol."If the problem here is youth consuming alcohol, then, setting up youth entertainment facilities will not help the situation,” he says.Moses Awan Okello, a teacher at Kigali Parents School says this policy should indeed be enforced because lots of youth now spend their time in bars, drinking and also engaging in other bad habits such as pre-marital sex.Awan, however,  notes that it might not work very well because the youth can still access alcoholic drinks from shops and supermarkets and drink from elsewhere.He advises that the youth should mostly be sensitized on the dangers of abusing alcohol so they don’t have to drink in or outside the bar.Gabriel Kayumba, a resident of Kanombe and father of three says that this law was actually long over due."The law against alcohol abuse by the youth was implemented years ago but hasn’t really been enforced. Our children are wasting away in many criminal acts due to the influence of alcohol consumption while bar owners are making money,” Kayumba said.Kayumba emphasised that some bar owners only care about money making at the expense of the lives of the youth saying, "Police should actually arrest bar owners who allow children below 18 years in bars.”