Changaa

After being illegal in Kenya for many years, the Kenyan government legalised the traditional home-brewed spirit in 2010, in an effort to take business away from establishments where toxic chemicals are added to the brew to make it stronger.

[1] Under the new law, chang'aa must be manufactured, distributed and sold in glass bottles, and retailers must display health warning signs.

Its production and distribution in urban slums has to some extent continued to be controlled in many cases by criminal gangs like the Mungiki who run protection cartels for illicit brewers.

The drink is sometimes adulterated by adding substances like jet fuel, embalming fluid or battery acid, which has the effect of giving the beverage more 'kick'.

[3] The water used to make the drink in illegal breweries is also often below acceptable health standards and sometimes contaminated with sewage.