James, an accountant with a start-up in Nairobi’s South C, used to leave the office and go straight to a bar that he patronized with his friends.
That was before Covid-19 disrupted lives. Now James has been left to buy alcohol from the supermarket.
The Saturday Nation caught up with him and other customers at a supermarket in Kinoo, Kiambu County, where he lives with his wife and three children.
He fears that he is slowly becoming an alcoholic, thanks to the many idle hours he spends at home.
Just about a month since bars were closed and the subsequent curfew imposed by the government as a way of curbing the spread of the highly infectious disease, his life has become “boring”, he says.
To kill time, he started drinking a glass or two of alcohol as he watched episodes of the trending series “Money Heist” and another entertainment fare.
He has not had a chance to sip his favorite drink with his friends in a bar. Now he describes life as monotonous.
“Nowadays, I look forward to 10 pm when the children have gone to bed, then I unleash my bottles from the hideout. My wife frowns upon alcohol, so I indulge alone, and it is now a routine I find hard to break,” said the man in his early 40s.
SOCIAL CULTURE
At most supermarkets in residential areas and the central business district in Nairobi, queues to buy alcohol are getting longer, especially a few hours to the curfew, our survey shows.
So are queues at wine and spirits outlets, which are witnessing scenes of customers scrambling to get their favorite drinks to keep them company through the long nights, now that bars and other social places like golf courses and clubhouses are closed.
A young woman who walked out of a supermarket in Nairobi city center with a bottle of Amarula said that was the first time she was going to enjoy an alcoholic drink at her Lang’ata residence because she needed something to make her days exciting and break the boredom.
“The old saying that an idle mind is the devil’s workshop catches up with us at times,” she said with a chuckle. “I know these things are addictive, but I hope I won’t fall into that pit.”
Drinking is an integral part of the social culture the world over, and especially during this Covid-19 turbulence.
Balconies, vehicles, and open spaces in estates have become the new bars. Brewers and distributors are now in overdrive delivering liquor to people’s doorsteps.
RISING DEMAND
London Distillers and East Africa Breweries Ltd (EABL), for instance, have come up with dial-a-delivery services, where they market their products on social media, complete with a contact and bundling offers. People can have beer, wine, and whiskey delivered to their homes in a matter of minutes.
A distributor, who asked not to be named, told the Saturday Nation that the demand for alcohol has grown by more than 100 percent, with new business models of home deliveries taking root.
However, the boom is being curtailed by a shortage of products, considering that most of the alcohol consumed is imported from the United Kingdom, India and other countries that are being ravaged by the coronavirus pandemic.
“Alcohol demand is high, but then there is no alcohol. Most products consumed locally are imported, from UK and India, but their production and shipping has been hindered by the pandemic,” the trader said.
EABL and UDV Kenya, whose markets were taken over by imports three years ago, are yet to take advantage of the shortage to step up production.
Thanks to increased consumption, some sections of Nairobi are running out of some brands of alcohol. Gilbeys and Konyagi, for instance, were in short supply in Roysambu and Kasarani two days ago.
But as drinking rises, experts warn that turning to alcohol to pass time and drown sorrows during such uncertain times puts one’s health at risk.
ADVOCACY
They note that restrictions on movement could be creating alcoholics in a country already grappling with bad statistics, with four in every 100 deaths attributed to alcohol.
Dr. Lukoye Atwoli, an associate professor of psychiatry at Moi University, says that more people are susceptible to substance-use disorders at times of isolation like now, and are exposed to use it in a harmful way.
“Obviously, this is the time when more of these cases (alcoholism) will be picked up. After the pandemic, we will have to deal with economic problems and also expect new diagnoses for all sorts of things: anxiety, depression, and post-traumatic stress disorder,” said Dr. Lukoye.
Anti-drug-abuse agency Nacada says alcohol remains the most abused drug in the country, affecting thousands of young people, and this could worsen if the recent trends hold.
NACADA chairman Ayub Githiri said the agency is concerned and has started a number of advocacy programs in the media to “help people know that alcohol is not essential and they can do without it”.
Earlier, there was misinformation going around that drinking alcohol would make one immune to the coronavirus because alcohol-based sanitizers were recommended by health experts for hand-cleaning to beat the virus.
IMMUNE SYSTEM
The World Health Organisation (WHO) has since set the record straight, saying drinking alcohol does not protect against Covid-19 and can be dangerous, as it increases the risk of health problems.
Drinking alcohol weakens the immune system and this creates a greater health risk during the global pandemic, experts note.
United Kingdom-based doctor Aragone Giuseppe says consuming excessive amounts of alcohol could damage immunity cells in the lungs and upper respiratory system, which in turn can increase the risk of developing diseases such as tuberculosis, pneumonia, and respiratory distress syndrome, not to mention making one more susceptible to Covid-19.
“Alcohol can also affect the gut barrier, allowing more bacteria to pass in the blood,” Dr. Aragone was quoted saying on express.co.uk.
Alcohol also affects mental health and could blunt peoples’ sanity when coupled with the troubling times of pandemic.
In an article published on Global Health Now, J. Cavanaugh Simpson says that as social distancing sets in, loneliness and depression might also increase, raising the specter of wider alcohol use.
“Chronic drinkers should pay extra attention, and so should their loved ones, especially during layoffs or lost jobs. There are risk factors with isolation, the lack of a schedule, and if alcohol is just there in the house with you,” says Paul Sasha Nestadt, co-director of the Johns Hopkins Anxiety Disorders Clinic.
The journal notes that people with depression, anxiety, and substance abusers are also at higher risk when stressed.
RESTRICTIONS
It further warns that partiers who order home delivery or gather in groups, especially long-time drinkers, should be wary and consider experts’ advice.
“Often, the alcohol-provoked lung damage goes undetected until a second insult, such as a respiratory infection, leads to more severe lung diseases,” the article notes.
“Alcohol consumption does not have to be chronic to have negative health consequences. In fact, research shows that acute binge drinking also affects the immune system.”
Despite legislative attempts to curb drinking, Kenya is still facing its greatest threat from alcohol abuse.
The Alcoholic Drinks Control Act of 2010 restricts the sale of alcohol to between 5 pm and 11 pm, but drinkers still find their way around the restriction.
A report released by the WHO in October 2018 shows that alcohol consumption has become alarmingly routine among minors, with prevalence among primary school pupils at 38.2 percent.
Nairobi tops in alcohol consumption, having reported the highest prevalence of abusers — at a staggering 18.4 percent — according to a 2019 Nacada report.
This translates into almost a fifth of the population, implying that one in every five individuals is an alcoholic.
The western region comes second, with 13.1 percent of the population being alcohol abusers, followed by Rift Valley (10.7 percent), Eastern (10.6 percent), Nyanza (9.6 percent), Coast (8.7 percent) and Central at 8.3 percent.
DOMESTIC VIOLENCE
The survey also established that Kenyans in rural areas had a slightly higher drinking prevalence, compared to their urban counterparts.
This was attributed to devolution and the consequent creation of jobs, as well as the presence of local brews.
Abuse of illicit brews, especially chang’aa and the Kumi Kumi, remained predictably high, at 37 percent of all the alcohol consumed in 2019.
Last Tuesday, Uasin Gishu Governor Jackson Mandago went against the grain, supporting a chief roundly condemned after a video of him dousing a woman in liters of illegal brew went viral.
In Mr. Mandago’s view, crucifying one chief for his action would deter the rest from fiercely fighting local brews, more so now when the country is in a partial lockdown and many have a lot of time to drink.
In December 2018, Nacada released a survey indicating that 60 percent of married or cohabiting men in Kenya accounts for the highest number of heavy alcohol consumers.
Some people have linked the rise in domestic violence cases to drinking at home, although others say it is only a catalyst that leads to an explosion of underlying problems, and cabin fever.
Cabin fever is a series of negative emotions and distressing sensations people may face if they are isolated or feel cut off from the world for extended periods due to a variety of circumstances, such as natural disasters or even social distancing in pandemics such as Covid-19.
Some of the symptoms are irritability, lethargy, impatience, persistent distrust, and depression.
But even as they drink, Kenyans drink less than some of their East African peers. A 2019 report, “Effect of Kenya’s Alcohol Regulation Policies”, shows that Kenyans consume 3.4 liters of alcohol per capita, which is a third less than the amounts Ugandans and Tanzanians consume.