By Mofor Samuel
The health problems that concern us now are more likely to be self- inflicted than to be ills over which we have no control. Life style factors- nutritional pattern, smoking, sexual promiscuity, drug use and alcohol consumption etc, are today said to be responsible for between 40 and 45% of our health problems. These are all areas that we as individuals whether in our family, professional or working and school lives have a great deal of control.
In Cameroon today, the consumption of alcohol is a source of occasional pleasure. The drinking of alcoholic beverages has two faces: one happy and the other sad. The moderate drinking of alcohol can make the heart of man rejoice. On the other hand, alcohol contributes to acts of violence. Drinking can remove inhibition and social restraints and can blur the way one interprets other people’s actions, making a violent response more likely.
One group of people in Cameroon whose dependence on alcohol is on a steady increase is the elements of the Forces of Law and Order or if you prefer Law Enforcement Officers. The consumption of alcoholic beverages among the men in uniforms goes across the award of epaulettes; when they are on routine controls on the highways, to when they are in the quarters and still putting on their uniforms. They are often seen rubbing shoulders and sharing bottles of beer with a civilian population that does not only wonder where the money spent on beer comes from but equally why must security officers drink beer while still putting on their uniforms up to the extent of getting drunk. Bitter exchanges, use of foul language and even complete outright scuffles and free-for- all fights sometimes broke out when these men in uniforms are under the stupor of alcohol. These often lead to injuries, destruction of personal belongings as well as the smashing of furniture, bottles and glasses in beer parlours.
As if the consumption of alcohol outside their work places is not enough, beer parlours under the cover of eating houses have been set up at sensitive points within the police and gendarmerie office compounds at least as far as Buea is concerned. At the level of the Central Police Station in Buea, it is situated directly behind the Judicial Police Building and the Identification Office overlooking the Public Security Main Charge Office. As far as the National Gendarmerie is concerned, it is situated between part of the building hosting the offices of the Military Justice Department and the Territorial Brigade.
Locating of eating houses cum beer parlours within the premises of these two departments that form an arm of the judiciary puts to question the type of law that policemen and gendarmes are out to enforce. One is not far from the truth to say that the Forces of Law and Order are guided by alcohol in the discharge of their duties. It is while drinking alcohol that most shady deals are discussed, money changes hands, prey corrupt predators not to be devoured by the law, decisions are summarily taken over complaints, complaints are being made, documents are sure to be signed since the conditions of signing are discussed and taken after the gulping of at least a bottle or two. One can sometimes even hear officers asking their victims to give them their beer for facilitating the rendering of this or that service to them. Beer in this sense can be both figurative and the normal beer that we all know.
The general opinion is that these beer parlours cum recreation spots within these premises are there to grease the wheels of the ever rising corrupt practices that are already rife within the judiciary in general and within the Forces of Law and Order in particular.
Some people may ask why focus only on the Law Enforcement Office premises when the former premises of the Delegation of Transport had the same facility? Whatever the case such recreation spots within sensitive government departments are condemned because it is not only difficult to draw a line as far as moderate consumption of alcohol is concerned, they equally serve as breeding grounds for corrupt practices. That is when it comes to money changing hands for the benefit of individuals and not the state.
Heavy alcohol consumption as it prevails within the ranks of the elements of the Forces of Law and Order is a multifaceted problem that includes hazardous use, harmful use and dependence. Hazardous use according to the World Health Organization is a pattern of alcohol consumption carrying with it a risk of harmful consequences- physical, mental or social. It includes drinking more than the limits recommended by health authorities or imposed by law.
No matter what your age, gender, activity or profession, you are not free from hazardous drinking. Just what does alcohol do to the body? What are the health dangers of over drinking? If alcohol is consumed at a faster rate than the body can handle, it interferes with brain function. Speech, vision, coordination, thought and behaviour are all connected with an incredibly complex series of chemical reactions in the brain’s key cells. The stream of information in the brain is altered, preventing the brain from functioning normally. That is why when a person drinks too much as is the case with our men in uniforms, he or she develops slurred speech, blurred vision, sluggish movement and weakened behavioural restraints and inhibitions- all common symptoms of intoxication.
The liver plays a vital role in metabolizing food, combating infection, regulating blood flow and removing toxic substances including alcohol from the blood. Prolonged exposure to alcohol damages the liver. It slows digestion of fat causing them to build up in the liver. With time, chronic inflammation causes cells to burst and die. Compounding this damage alcohol seems to trigger the natural system of programmed cell death.
The final stage is cirrhosis. The vicious cycle of continuous inflammation and cell destruction causes irreversible scarring. The liver becomes lumpy instead of remaining spongy. Finally the scar tissue prevents blood from flowing normally, leading to liver failure and death.
Alcohol’s effect on the liver has another insidious side effect- it is less capable of playing its defensive role in counteracting the effects of cancer forming agents. In addition to favouring the development of cancer of the liver, alcohol greatly increases the risk of cancer of the mouth, the pharynx, the larynx, and the throat.
Any benefits from alcohol seem to involve drinking small amounts spread throughout the week. Exceeding two drinks per day is linked to increases in blood pressure and heavy drinking raises the risk of stroke and can cause swelling of the heart as well as irregular heart beat.
These are some of the risks that our men in uniforms are exposed to as they cling to the habit of immoderate drinking but for the fact that it presents a very negative and poor image of the Forces of Law and Order in Cameroon in the discharge of their duties thereby tarnishing the image of the country as a whole.
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