Tusingwire Patrick is slouched in a chair at the Victory Rehabilitation Center on the outskirts of Kampala, recalling his time as a maker of homemade banana gin. "I knew it could be dangerous, but I didn't know it could kill so many people," says the 34-year-old former primary school teacher.
Patrick is referring to the more than 100 people who have died in western Uganda since early April after ingesting a methanol-laced version of a homemade gin known as waragi. The popular drink, easy to make and cheap to buy, has been blamed for causing blindness and death before, but never so many in such a short span of time. Illegal production of hard liquor is a problem across much of Africa, but it may be worst in Uganda....
