Governor Ranguma wants to give his former busaa den a face lift

PHOTO/The Star

Kisumu Governor Jack Ranguma has promised to revamp a busaa den in Kisumu’s Nyalenda slums where he took his first sip of the traditional brew as a teenager.

The joint had previously been closed down by chiefs and village elders.

Governor Ranguma recently recalled the experience which introduced him to alcohol, saying he will ensure the den is revamped.

Busaa is a porridge-like traditional liquor which Ranguma recalled drinking: “I used to occasionally visit my friends in Nyalenda and one day... little did I know we were headed to the busaa den.”

Ranguma continued: “At the den, I was given a calabash full of the liquor by the friend. I tried to resist, telling him that I was too young to take alcohol, but he tricked me, telling me to just hold it for him. Since we were seated outside the house, anybody passing by would see all of us holding the calabash and assume we were all drinking. So I requested the friend if we could get inside the house where nobody could see me.”

Adds Ranguma: “When we got into the house, I met colleagues from Kisumu Boys’ High School who were comfortably gulping theirs and they welcomed me to the party, telling me that the drink was more or less porridge. ”

Ranguma said that, “There was a big sufuria full of busaa and people were refilling their calabashes over and over again. I found the liquor okay and we proceeded to drink till late in the day.”

He would then visit the shebeen often in what became routine in his adult life.

The den was a few metres from the venue in Nyalenda where Ranguma was launching the construction of a road with French Ambassador Remi Marechaux, whose government is funding it under the auspices of the Kisumu Urban Project (KUP).

“Busaa is not bad. If the place has been closed, then I promise to come back soon and have a session with the residents there as we take busaa and discuss development issues,” he said, adding that Luo traditions allowed men to sit for sips of the liquor while discussing fundamental issues affecting the

This article was first published on The Nairobian

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