To Hon Geofrey Solo Kayemba MP Bukomasimbi South,

My name is Manuel Miiro, I am a student of Aga Khan Academy Mombasa and I am 13 years old. I am doing a Service Learning project. Service-learning is an educational approach that combines learning objectives with community service in order to provide a pragmatic, progressive learning experience while meeting societal needs (What Is Service Learning? And How Do Students Benefit From It?, n.d.) And for this Project, I am writing a letter to a person in a position of power to address an issue in a community .I’d like to bring up the biggest issue among children and young adults in Uganda, and even possibly Bukomansimbi District , being addiction and alcoholism in specific.

From experience and research based on multiple sources,

I had found out that thousands of children are left homeless struggling and even dying on the streets, many stars are showing off this sort of lifestyle, Our country has the 5th highest alcoholism levels world wide, (Al Jazeera, 2014) and it isn’t uncommon to see children, smelly dirty intoxicated children on the streets, living in slums, parents frustrated and forced to leave these children, leading to lifelong psychological damage.(Muwanika, 2019)

From The Guardian and The Daily Monitor

And even young adults, many musicians and politicians e.g. AK-47 and Cerinah Nebandah  (Cerinah Nebanda's sudden death leaves MPs in shock, 2012) in this age group have died due to alcohol and drugs, often stated as the people of the present, these are the same people dying, committing crimes and leading to larger issues. Now what do you think would happen if we have alcoholics running our nation, drug addicts running around spreading these evils to the children, the people of tomorrow. This beautiful nation would not exist.

Now as much as I know you are not responsible, neither can you just stop the problem. I felt like it was the best thing to do as a person with such power and a respectable voice of the people. To not only voice these concerns, but present these solutions to the parliament ;

Tighten restrictions on alcohol consumption and distribution.

As much as there are some basic restrictions in place and they have been further strengthened by Covid Protocols, these should be used as a basis for further bans and rules against these, like banning the sale of alcohol past 6 pm, basic training of Police in Drug Enforcement Law and bigger penalties for involvement in the narcotics trade.

Building and using rehabilitation centers for addicts as well as the creation of Classes eg. AA classes

Even though many private rehabilitation centers have popped up in the wealthier parts of Kampala, this is a national issue and should be treated as such, featuring building small rooms or maybe just setting up public classes in people’s houses or under trees.

Creating places and jobs for these young adults to move them away from these objects.

Not even jobs, maybe basic distractions like fields and parks for them to play sports, take walks and socialize with other people to move them away from these addictive objects. A basis could be Dar es Salaam with its large sports complex taking up the time of many individuals.

Spread awareness and information on the topic

Many people in the villages believe in these things being remedies for severe illnesses and magic as foreigners and the wealthy believe in it being a tool for their own gain and as a way to make quick money like the recent heroin drug bust. (Woman arrested with 90 heroin pellets at Entebbe Airport, n.d.)

As much as this might be costly and might have short term repercussions,imagine the benefits for the future of the nation starting from a rather simple issue. For a better Uganda, as well as a better future.

Regards,

Manuel Miiro