Budget drinking: alcohol consumption in two Kenyan towns

The production and consumption of informal sector alcohol continues to excite much popular debate in Kenya. This paper, based on limited survey work and extensive observation, explores two of the facets of this phenomenon: palm wine in Mombasa and chang'aa - illicitly distilled spirits - in Naivasha. It discusses the patterns of sociability associated with these beverages, and suggests that these may distinguish them from one another, and from formal-sector beverages. An effective decriminalization has allowed the trade in palm wine to grow in size, but seems not to have led to any significant developments in scale or technology, and most of those involved in the trade derive very limited income from it. While the production and sale of chang'aa remains illegal, so that both traders and drinkers are vulnerable to police action and fines or demands for bribes, some of those involved in this trade seem to have accumulated a modest degree of wealth.