The Rwanda Food and Drugs Authority (RFDA) has “temporarily” suspended 10 Ugandan alcoholic beverages and ordered companies distributing them to recall the products from the market within three days or face tougher consequences.
The 10 Ugandan brands are part of 52 imported alcohol products that have been temporarily suspended on the Rwandan market over standards concerns.
The affected Ugandan products are: Bond 7 Whisky produced by Uganda Breweries Limited; Campfire Gin by John Distillers (U) Ltd; Club 5 Gin by Glorrie Industries Limited; Tembo Liqueur by Glorrie Industries Limited; X5 Gin by John Distillers (U) Ltd; Jonney’s Gin by John Distillers (U) Ltd; X5 Liqueur by John Distillers (U) Ltd; Pan Master Whisky by John Distillers (U) Ltd; X5 Whisky by John Distillers (U) Ltd; Gilbey’s Flavoured Gin by Uganda Breweries Ltd; and VandA Imp Cr Lqr by Uganda Breweries Ltd.
In an announcement dated August 5, RFDA said it had immediately suspended the importation of the alcoholic beverages.
‘Rwanda FDA instructs importers to immediately initiate a full recall of these products. Rwanda FDA instructs importers to immediately request respective distributors to recall the listed products from their clients, to return current stock and recall products to the importers,’ the announcement reads in part.
The RFDA instructed importers to submit recall reports within three days from the publication of the announcement. This means the importers must complete the recall of the alcohol products by the end of this week.
The suspension comes a week after Rwanda President Paul Kagame warned about alcohol consumption, which he says is killing young people in Rwanda.
‘As young people, we need you. We love you. But first and foremost, take care of yourselves. This religion of alcohol, I think people even recruit others into it. Alcohol is killing you. It’s killing young people. The older ones are already gone. It has killed so many older people like us. Others are already on that same path and seem unable to stop,’ Mr Kagame said at the Indangamirwa meeting on July 29 in Rwanda.
‘But I want to warn you and beg you: everything we have been talking about, what brought you here, and the plans we have for our country, this thing will kill you before you realise your ambitions,’ he added.
Days after President Kagame’s statement, RFDA closed a dozen factories manufacturing alcoholic beverages and barred the distribution of their products in Rwanda in the interest of public health.
Rwanda maintains some of the toughest measures against alcohol consumption. Bars and nightclubs are ordered to close at 1am from Monday to Friday. On weekends, they close at 2am.