Chief Chiwala:Men Who Drink Kachasu Fail To Perform In Their Homes

Chief Chiwala of the Lamba-speaking people says men who drink kachasu (an illicit beer) fail to have control of their homes.
And chief Chiwala has withdrawn 19 girls from early marriages in his chiefdom this year and has since taken them back to school.
In an interview in Masaiti on Friday, chief Chiwala said he had banned kachasu brewing and drinking in his area.
“No more drinking kachasu in my chiefdom. Everyone has become a policewoman or man; they are reporting to the palace whoever is found brewing or drinking kachasu. Kachasu is not beer; it is poison. Men who drink kachasu fail to perform in their homes because they become impotent,” he said.
He said men and women who drink kachasu were irresponsible and that their homes were broken because they did not have control over their families.
“You can see that girls who are engaging in early marriages are actually coming from broken homes because their parents are busy drinking kachasu and they don’t have time to look after their children. Boys have become thieves and murderers because their parents have no control over them. Kachasu is addictive and not good for a human being,” he said.
And chief Chiwala said he had withdrawn 19 girls from early marriage and returned them to school because he valued educating a girl child.
“We have formed village committees and 20 villages have instituted committees that are going to mitigate for the girl child….I have broken 19 early marriages and reported their parents to the police. People in my chiefdom have started seeing the value of educating a girl child. We are vigilant and we don’t want early marriages,” he said.
He said elders in his chiefdom want to protect girls and that the only way was to take them to school so that they can become productive in society and ultimately bring about development in Chiwala.
He said Lupiah School in Chiwala area had been turned into a secondary boarding school for girls and he expected the girls to perform well because they had no one to bother them.