I love Gongo

I live in the UK but am Tanzanian by birth. There is one drink that I miss the most and it is called Gongo. I intend to visit Tanzania soon and want to make sure I introduce this drink to my friends. However some of my English friends googled this and found out that it might be illegal to consume Gongo. Kindly guide me as it is a liquor that we need to market to the world and not ban. It can be a big export from Tanzania.
GO, London

Under section 31 of the Traditional Liquor (Control and Distillation) Act [Cap.384 R.E 2002] it is a crime to consume traditional liquor commonly known as gongo, machozi ya simba, umeme, chahng’aa, supu ya mawe. The offence of consumption of traditional liquor attracts a penalty of up to 5 years in jail. It is interesting to note that while the law allows distillation or supply of gongo if the distiller or supplier is licenced, the same law does not exempt from liability the offenders who have consumed traditional liquor sold to them by licenced distillers or suppliers.

Gongo is considered harmful to the body because of the chemicals used to make it. From the little research we did, we learnt that consumption of heavy doses of gongo can also lead to blindness. All in all, it is illegal to consume gongo and your English friends are right. Your vision of marketing gongo to the world will first require it to be legalized in Tanzania and that can only be achieved by changing the law.