By Dawa ya Mjinga 
Kweli jambo usilolijua ni kama usiku wa kiza, tena kiza kinene. Sasa hivi Tanzania kuna kinywaji kinachoitwa Konyagi na ndio maana jina jingine la gongo ni konyagi pori. Kwa Tanzania utengenezaji wa gongo uliendelezwa na serikali. Konyagi ilipoanza kutengenezwa kiwandani mali ghafi yake ilikuwa gongo. Watu walihimizwa kutengeneza gongo kwa wingi na kukiuzia kiwanda cha Konyagi. Ilipofika kiwandani gongo ile ilitenganishwa kitaalam na kuondoa sumu ambazo huchanganyika na gongo. Hiyo ndiyo aina ya mitambo anayoizungumzia Dr. Slaa.
Baadaye, kiwanda kiliamua kutengeneza pombe yake chenyewe kutokana na mabaki ya sukari viwandani yaani "molasses" na kuachana na ununuzi wa gongo la wananchi. Hapo ndipo wapika gongo wale kwa kificho wakaanza kuwauzia wananchi waliohitaji "konyagi pori". Hapo ndipo ikiwa mwanzo wa matatizo yote ya gongo kuenea nchini.
Kinachoweza kufanyika tena kitaalam kabisa ni kutengeneza mitambo midogomidogo ya kuondolea sumu kwenye gongo na kuifanya salama kama ilivyo konyagi. Baada ya hapo unaweza kubakiza jina gongo lakini kwa hakika kitakuwa kinywaji salama kama pombe nyingine halali. Ni jambo dogo sana kuibadilisha gongo kuwa pombe salama kama konyagi (aka "The Spirit of the Nation")
Wajinga, wapumbavu na wapuuzi wasitumie jambo wasilolijua kumwita anayependekeza majina yasiyofaa. Huko ni kujitia ujinga, kujitoa akili, kujilisha upepo, na kukubali kadamnasi kuwa wewe ni bozo. Jielimishe kidogo tu!
...Kwa kuongezea kidogo tu ni kwamba hata hizi Godons, Grants, JD's, J&B's JohnWalkers, Malibu, Amarula, Jack Daniels, NK zilikuwa mbaya na hatari kuliko Gongo. Kwa mfano hebu ipitieni kwa ufupi hii Historia ya whisky America.
THE HISTORY OF AMERICAN WHISKEY
The origins of whiskey can be traced back to the Medieval monks of both Ireland and Scotland, but now, those two countries make their own distinctive styles of their native spirit. So it is with American whiskey--the original concept may have been imported from far away lands, but some 300 years later, American whiskey, a spirit that can't be made without corn, an indigenous American grain, is a product unto itself.
American whiskey started its life as a raw, unaged spirit that had, as its main attribute, the power to spur the courage of the first colonists. And through the years, whiskey has developed into the complex, big-bodied, distinctively American bourbons, ryes, and Tennessee whiskeys that today, are savored by connoisseurs, sipped by grandmothers, tossed back by barflies, and "discovered" by almost every American as he or she reaches that magical age of twenty-one. American whiskey, itself, has reached maturity in relatively recent years, after spending a 300-year adolescence being molded by every major event that has affected its native country. And at times, the reverse is true--whiskey has affected the nation itself.
Whiskey-making was one of the first cottage industries in the land; it was responsible for George Washington mustering federal troops for the first time, and whiskey went with the early pioneers as they traveled westward to explore new territories. Whiskey was a spirit of contention during the Civil War, and was, in part, the reason that Grant never served a third term in the White House. Whiskey spurred the women of America to lead a crusade that led to Prohibition, and has played a part in every major war this nation has seen. In short, where America has been, so has American whiskey--and where whiskey has traveled, so have Americans been influenced by its presence.
Bourbon, in fact, is so darned American, that, in 1964, Congress itself recognized it as "a distinctive product of the U.S.A." And although straight rye, and Tennessee whiskeys haven't attained such a prestigious honor, they too have traveled the same dusty trails that led to today's superhighways and are as distinctively American as any bourbon whiskey.
When the first immigrants arrived on this continent, their love for alcohol in almost any shape or form led to a chain of events that would culminate in the creation of distinctive American whiskeys. By tracing the thirst the settlers wanted to slake we can plot the development of American whiskey from the early days of the settlers in Virginia and New England all the way through time to today. Furthermore, we can track the creation of bourbon and Tennessee whiskey back to their very roots--a rare opportunity when the subject is food or drink.
