‘Akpeteshie’ distillers raise red-flag

The Ghana cooperative Distillers Association has raised red-flag on the activities of some unscrupulous persons who deal with akpeteshie laced with substances like marijuana which is popularly referred to as ‘Laka’.

They say the practice is denting the image of the Association as producers of the hazardous drink per the health risks of ‘laka’, thereby reducing the patronage of akpeteshie – which has negatively affected their revenue generation as well.

According to the Association it is unlawful for any person to mix akpeteshie with other substances for consumption, most especially without the approval of Food and Drugs Board.

In recent times, some people have been mixing ‘akpeteshie’ and other very potent alcohol drinks such as gin with ‘wee’ and tree- roots for medicinal use or as an aphrodisiac.

Some youth at Chiraa in the Sunyani-West District have named it ‘Laka’ after former Minister of Local Government and Rural Development who hails from the town, Kwadwo Agyei Darko, following his continues crusade against the drink.

In an interview with B&FT, the Brong Ahafo Regional Manager of the Cooperate Distillers Association Union Mr. Yaw Owusu attributed the ‘laka’ – selling syndrome to the emergence of splinter groups from the union, which he said makes supervision very difficult.

He said though the Association has a task force meant to clamp down on these ‘laka’ sellers, but some have taken undue advantage of freedom of association and therefore exempted themselves from the periodic checks and instructions of the association.

He further pointed out that the surfacing of the splinter groups has massively reduced the association’s production rate and revenue generation for the state.

“The Regional Union used to pay about GHC 273,600 per annum as VAT- that was before 1997 when we were operating under one umbrella, but very little can be said about our current state of revenue generation. Last year, we paid only GHC65, 000 to the Ghana Revenue Authority as VAT. With regard to production, our members were able to distil 12,000 tins a month in time past, but now our best output is not even up to 3,000 tins,” he lamented.

He emphasized that his worry is not basically about some distillers breaking away from the mother-union, but rather he is skeptical about their commitment to tax obligations and the quality of drink they produce for public consumption – adding that many left to form their own groups because they were unable to meet set-out standards of the association.

Mr Owusu also mentioned what he called scarcity and high cost of ‘akpeteshie’ inputs such as sugar, yeast and palm-trees as contributory factors to the fall of their business.

He said it has become extremely difficult to come by palm-trees whilst the price of substitutes like sugar has risen astronomically.