Rwandan President Paul Kagame is defending his country’s purge on alcoholic drinks imported from neighbouring countries, but which didn’t meet local standards, saying it was for the sake of public health.
In a press conference in Kigali, President Kagame said profits come second to any public safety concerns and that Rwanda will not lower its standards bar for commercial reasons.
He spoke weeks after the Rwanda Food and Drugs Authority (FDA) suspended 52 imported alcoholic beverages authorities had linked to death of consumers who had partook them.
The decision, however, elicited protests from standards agencies in Nairobi and Kampala because Kenya and Uganda, the source of the drinks, had allowed them to be sold after assessing they met standards.
In Kigali, President Kagame, who chairs the African Union’s Domestic Health Financing and New Partnership for Africa’s Development (Nepad), said that people’s lives matter more than any financial gains.
‘People are talking about loss of jobs but is the loss of jobs more important than loss of lives?’ posed President Kagame, who addressed the media on Monday, ahead of the Africa Mindset Reset Forum which kicked off on Tuesday.
Rwanda’s crackdown on illicit drinks raised questions on whether standards had become a new trading barrier in the East African Community. Either that or commentators asked whether the standards used by these countries varied.
On August 5, the Rwanda FDA targeted alcoholic beverages including five originating from Kenya, in what the Authority described to be ‘in the interest of public health.’
The affected Kenyan brands included Gilbeys Gin manufactured by Kenya Breweries Limited, Kenya King Gin and Safari Gin manufactutred by London Distillers Kenya Limited, Sweet Berry Potable Spirits and Avalon Portable Spirits by Zhen Hong Kenya Limited.
In Rwanda, however, the crackdown went as far as the officials involved in tests and the leaders of the FDA.
Kagame argued those officials had contributed to the sub-standard alcohol products getting into the country.
He argued that the fact that other East African Communities (EAC) member states allow the consumption of the affected products is no justification for Rwanda to do the same irrespective of the health harms linked to toxic alcohol.
‘We deal with those people,’ he stated.
‘If they are approved in other countries that is not my matter but as the leader of this country, they will have to answer for their actions.’
‘Maybe there is a minor problem compared to what we are dealing with. It cannot prevent us from dealing with this major issue that we need resolved.’
Kenya and Uganda have separately argued that their local approvals should be basis for Rwanda to assess the quality of those drinks, as well as the principles of the EAC Common Market Protocol and the EAC Customs Unions, two pillars of the regional bloc that address matters of movement of goods and services including harmonised testing systems, standards and certification of products.