Bar manager charged for drunkenness of customer

My bar manager was arrested and charged with an offence of permitting drunkenness at the bar, which is how all bars make money everywhere in the world. On Easter Sunday, one of the customers who came became too drunk and started conducting himself disorderly. My manager phoned the police to go to the bar and remove the drunken person. Police responded but surprisingly, instead of arresting the drunkard they arrested my manager for what they called permitting drunkenness in the bar. I don’t understand this offence at all. Bar is a place where people go for drinking (including many of your readers), so how can a bar manager be blamed for a customer’s excessive drinking?
RD, Singida

Section 74 of the Intoxicating Liquors Act [Cap.77 R.E 2002] imposes an obligation on the in-charge or operator of the bar to disallow customers from getting too drunk in the bar. A bar operator or manager has the power, under section 75 of the Act, to remove, refuse to serve or admit a drunken person to a bar. It is an offence for the drunken person to disobey the order of the bar manager or bar operator. Serving a drunken person with alcohol or inciting or encouraging him to drink is an offence. However, a bar operator or manager who is charged with allowing drunkenness in the bar can plead a defence that he took all reasonable steps to prevent the drunkenness in the bar but he failed or that the customer went to the bar drunk and he was not supplied with any alcohol at the bar. Your manager can raise the defence showing that he is not the one to blame for the drunkenness.

On our readers getting drunk, we are sure many go to the bar but cannot comment on them getting drunk! In any case the law doesn’t change for anyone.