Gulu Resident District Commissioner Santos Okot Lapolo has begged men in the district to reduce on their rate of alcohol consumption and focus on the development of their families.
In a speech at Pece stadium today during celebrations to mark International Women’s day, Lapolo said alcohol has ruined many homes especially in the rural areas where he says men have resorted to drinking leaving most of the work to their wives.
Lapolo said alcohol consumption is becoming a common vice among teenagers.
“Most children are in video halls and are always drunk,’’ he said.
The Gulu RDC told a gathering a story of a drunkard who he said dozed off in a potato garden and started fondling the potato heaps mistaking it for his wife’s breast.
“I witnessed a serious drunkard who collapsed in a potato plantations at night. He was making a lot of noise and was torching the potatoes heaps thinking he was touching the breasts of his wife,’’ the RDC said.
‘‘The drunkard touched the leaves of the potatoes and started to demand why his wife had clothes on when sleeping near him.”
The RDC said he is worried that Gulu district will soon be ranked the top district in alcohol consumption.
He warned men against domestic violence saying that both women and men should respect each other in marriage and should always apologies to one another when they commit a wrong.
“The key [to marriage] is that you should learn to say sorry to your selves. Say sorry every day. Learn to forgive yourselves and this will make you stay longer in your marriage,” the RDC counselled.
Last year a section of religious leaders in Gulu made a peaceful demonstration in Gulu demanding for a ban on the sale of Sachet alcohol. The religious leaders delivered petition signed by over 8,000 people to the district council in support of the ban against sachet waragi in Gulu district.
The leaders want the district council to pass a by-law prohibiting the sale of alcohol in sachets. The leaders argue that the sachets is making it easy for the young to turn to alcohol consumption.
