WITH more and more youth in society subjecting themselves to drinking illicit alcohol such as Junta, productivity in their day to day lives remains questionable.
For many years now, some youths in the country have continued to abuse alcohol – and especially low-cost, high-ABV illicit alcohol like junta — prompting President Hakainde Hichilema to address the matter at the recent Youth Day celebrations.
However, a range of organisations – including those from the public, private, and social sectors – have decided that enough is enough, and created an organisation called the Coalition Against Illicit Alcohol (CAIA), which has launched an innovative multi-channel campaign to tackle the consumption of Junta in Zambia.
The objective of the Coalition, Co-Chaired by Lukulu East Member of Parliament Dr Christopher Kalila, is to build a social movement that will transform the country by curbing the sale and consumption of illicit alcohol especially low cost, high ABV illicit spirits.
The focus of Coalition’s “Rise Above” campaign is empowerment and friendship, and members invite citizens to think about how they can take action to support their friends, communities, and themselves in making better choices by saying NO to junta.
On Thursday, the Coalition took the campaign to another level by holding a bold activation event named ‘The Junta Trap’ which was being held at Lusaka’s City Market.
The event, which was graced by Local Government and Rural Development Minister Hon. Gary Nkombo and Dr Kalila, saw an individual symbolically trapped inside a large bottle resembling a typical illicit container of junta.
With crowds surrounding the bottle wondering and questioning what was happening, in a turn of events, the perceived ‘drunk’ individual holding a half full bottle of junta was dramatically rescued by his friends.
The message being sent was loud and clear: underscoring the significant burden faced by many due to addiction to illicit alcohol and further highlighting the essential role friends play in assisting those affected to overcome their struggles.
And speaking to the media as the drama unfolded of a man trapped in a junta bottle, David Planga one of the members of public shared their knowledge on the need to abstain from such high spirits.
“Drinking junta is not a good thing at all. I came early in the morning here in the market to try and be productive but shockingly I found this youth trapped in a bottle. I don’t know whether he got drunk last night kaya. How can you be productive like this? Future of this country depends on youths. As the saying goes, Imiti ikula, empanga. Now, if you kill the youths, how are we going to have a forest in the future. We will keep on complaining about junta if we don’t change. My advice is for youths to wake up, rise above junta and help one another so we can stop taking alcohol but it affects our productivity,” said Mplanga.
The Junta Trap launch marks the beginning of numerous community education activations planned across the country.
