Alcohol dens in Kitwe thriving

SOME bars and night clubs in Kitwe are operating illegally under the guise of being restaurants in order to allow their patrons to drink from their premises and increase their sales, a Daily Nation survey has revealed A well-known night club which has a restaurant, opened to the public last week using the licence of a restaurant to allow the patrons to drink from its premises, while another place which opened as a bar, has now changed to a restaurant selling alcoholic drinks. Patrons had been frequenting the outlets in large numbers on drinking sprees despite the ban in the wake of the COVID-19 outbreak. Bar and night club owners have resorted to using all sorts of means to keep their patrons within their premises, while other revellers drink from their vehicles Kitwe Town Clerk Mbulo Seke confirmed that some bars and night clubs which also have a license of a restaurant were abusing the same licences. “Yes, I know of one night club which opened last week and it has been using the licence of a restaurant to sell beer and even allow patrons to drink from its place. I will bring this issue to the responsible department for investigations,’’ Mr Seke said Mr Seke said Zambians should not brush off the existence of Covid-19, but instead continue to take preventive measures seriously like wearing of masks, social distance and others. He said the fact that Zambia had not recorded many deaths from Covid-19 should not make people become careless and drink alcohol carelessly. He said Zambians should not wait to learn from their own experiences, but learn from other countries’ experiences. “I believe a wise person will not wait to be attacked before he gets prepared, but he will prepare himself before he is attacked. The fact that Zambia has not recorded many deaths from Covid-19 should not make people become careless and think there was no Covid-19 in Zambia,’’ Mr Seke said