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The debate over the control of the consumption of tobacco and alcohol have over the years been shaped by moral and religious convictions, which have over the last two decades attracted government intervention because of rising public health costs and deaths associated with these products around the world.
The Health ministry has been waging this battle for over a decade by shackling the ability of cigarette firms to make smoking attractive through marketing.
The next shape that this fight has taken with the Tobacco Control Act 2007 is attempting an even ambitious use of economic sanctions (in terms of stiff fines and controlling production promotion and availability) to regulate consumer behaviour and morals by attaching a negative social sting to public smoking.
According to experts, the harsh economic disincentives placed on public smoking and cigarette consumption through high taxes, court fines and jail fines could force a sizeable portion of the population to trade down from legitimate products sold by BAT Kenya and Mastermind to cheaper traditional alternatives and illicit products obtained through smuggling and other forms of tax evasion.
This will produce a big underground movement of smokers who fall below the radar of the ministry of health, but who continue to increase the public healthcare bill. . . .
"We believe the tobacco industry in Kenya is in the stabilization and decline stage of the industry life cycle," says an African Alliance analysis report dated July 22, after BAT released its half-year results up to June this year. "This is evidenced by declining profit margins, decelerating growth in domestic consumption." . . .
Overall, the company is positive about the new legislation and it plans to use it to steal more business from illicit trade. "We see this as a reasonable piece of legislation if it is implemented in an orderly manner. As a company we support regulation of the Industry as it provides a level playing field for all players," says Mr Gretton.
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Hardly a month after the Kenya parliament passed a law seeking to seriously curtail use of tobacco in the country, tobacco firms have gone to court and effectively frustrated enactment of the new rules. These firms have argued that the law had 'criminalised smoking', making it hard for them to operate.
The firms wanted the enactment of the laws put on hold, saying that the provisions of the rules were unrealistic and denied them their constitutional right to make a living.
As as result the high court in Nairobi has suspended the law after an application by 2 firms mastermind Tobacco and multinational British American Tobacco (BAT) Kenya Limited until the matter is heard and determined, in a suit in which the attorney general and the public health ministry are named as defendants.
British American Tobacco Kenya Ltd., East Africa's biggest cigarette maker, said first-half profit rose 4.9 percent.
As the smoking law took effect days ago, Joseph Oluoch was among the people applauding. He has even written a book, The making of a slave, to discourage people from the habit.
In his book he says he first recognised smokers when he was barely two years old. . . .
Oluoch got a degree after 11 years instead of four. He later quite smoking through the support of friends and a cousin. That was when he decided to write the book
"Smoking is like a disease which enters easily but is not easy to get rid of," he warns.
British American Tobacco has been given six months time to comply with Kenya's new Tobacco Control Act, revealed The Nation.
In line with this, the warning that cigarette packages are supposed to carry will not be introduced until January 1, 2009.
it is one of the smoking zones in Nairobi; created after the ban on smoking in public places was enforced last year.
To a passer-by, the smoking zone may appear like any other street, but to this group of smokers, it is actually a sanctuary that they often visit to quench what most term "thirst".
Welcome to Nairobi, a city choking under the fumes of smoke where puffing in public places has been banned. . . .
And now the Ministry of Public Health and Sanitation through the Tobacco Control Act has come up with another legislation- cigarettes shall only be sold in a package containing at least 10 sticks.
This is what annoys Zulfikar Mule Kome, a frequent visitor to the smoking zone. Mr Kome thinks the regulation is meant to discourage him from smoking.
A Kenyan cigarette-maker Friday filed a suit against a new ban on smoking in public places, opening a battle between the government and tobacco firms.
Mastermind Tobacco Kenya Limited asked a Nairobi court to nullify the Tobacco Control Act 2007 on the ground that it is "unconstitutional, irrational and not a legitimate exercise of the state police powers," three days after it entered into force.
It took almost a decade for the Tobacco Control Act to be signed into law by President Kibaki on October 27, 2007, and, immediately, non-smokers sighed with relief because they believed that those who puffed anyhow and anywhere had had a field day for far too long.
Although the legislation brought tobacco manufacturers and anti-smoking lobbyists at loggerheads initially, the Government straddled in and supported it on grounds that smoking-related ailments drained the national coffers. . . .
It is hoped that, among other things, the Ministry of Health will speedily establish the Tobacco Control Board and the Tobacco Control Fund to advise the minister on the law and act as a reserve for monies to the board, respectively.
For example, the Act demands that public places designate areas for smokers and obligates parents and guardians to ensure that their children are free from second hand tobacco smoke at all times. This is clearly possible in public places. But it may prove difficult to enforce in the private homes of smokers.
Then there is a requirement that tobacco products must not be sold to people under the age of 18. Here, the law demands that sellers of such products get documentary confirmation on age of buyers.
This is not possible in a capitalist, free-market economy such as Kenya's.
This provision assumes that all traders, regardless of their status, are morally upright and would gleefully assist the Government in implementing the new law.
For many years, there has been a ban on selling alcoholic beverages to consumers under the age of 18. Our experience tells us that the law has largely been ignored, and we have seen underage school children helplessly inebriated.
Another clause in the Tobacco Control Act aimed at elbowing out the underage from smoking is the one requiring that cigarettes be sold in packets containing at least 10 sticks.
Research has shown that most smokers rarely buy their cigarettes in packets
I am not a cigarette smoker but I dislike the Government's punitive action against smokers.
The Government sshould have closed BAT rather than allow Kenyans to rot in jail for a crime of passion.
It is good to ban smoking in public places, bars included, because not all who drink beer smoke cigarette. But the fine for offenders is too high, so many will go to jail.
Effective Tuesday, smoking is now prohibited in all public places such as offices and workplaces, court and public buildings, factories, cinema halls, theatres, video houses, disco halls, hospitals and other health institutions.
Other restricted public places are restaurants, hotels, bars, markets, children's homes, residential houses, places of worship, police stations, public transport terminals, stadiums, airports, commuter boats, trains, ferries or any other public conveyance places.
"However, owners or managers of prohibited smoking areas such as hotels and bars will be allowed to set aside designated smoking zones within their premises," Mrs Mugo, who was accompanied by permanent secretary James Nyikal said.
The Act outlaws the manufacture or sale of objects, including sweets, snacks or toys that resemble tobacco products or would reasonably appeal to children under the age of 18 years.
Also outlawed is the promotion of tobacco products through testimonials, advertisements, trade fairs, promoting or sponsoring sporting, cultural or entertainment programmes.
A law banning smoking in public places and regulating tobacco products in Kenya came into effect on Tuesday, spelling the end of a convoluted legal tussle between the government and tobacco firms.
The Tobacco Control Act, passed in parliament last year but given a nine-month implementation period, provides a legal framework to control the production, manufacture, sale, advertising and use of tobacco products.
A new law banning smoking in public places and regulating the sale of tobacco products in Kenya is due to take effect nationwide within hours, an official said Monday.
Public Health Minister Charity Ngilu said the Tobacco Control Act, passed in August 2007 but given a nine-month implementation period prior to Tuesday's passing into law, is aimed at protecting public health.
A new report carried extensively in this paper today reveals the shocking extent to young people in Kenya are abusing drugs, including alcohol and tobacco.
This might not sound like anything new, but it confirms a pattern of social dislocation in this country that ultimately will have grave consequences for the national well-being.
An interesting element of the study is that it demolishes the common belief that substance abuse among youths is more prevalent within the lower socio-economic stratum where it is presumed that economic hardships lead to broken families and less parental supervision and ultimately to high school drop-out rates and teenage delinquency. . . .
We forget to look at ourselves and the way we are bringing up our children.
This report must serve as a wake-up call to all parents that, ultimately, they are responsible for the way in which their children are guided through life.
This is not a responsibility that can be fobbed of on the Government, school, church or the rest of society.
Experts are sounding alarm bells after two new studies revealed that school children as young as 11 are falling prey to drug abuse. . . .
According to two studies -- Drug Use Screening Inventory-Revised (DUSI-R) and School Toolkit -- conducted among school going children in 17 public secondary schools in Nairobi, a significant number of the students admitted taking beer, wine, spirits and cigarettes, among other drugs.
In the first study that has been accepted for publication by the International Society for Addiction Medicine in the 2008 Substance Abuse Journal, 18.1 per cent of the 1,328 students interviewed said they were taking alcohol, tobacco and other drugs.
The School Toolkit study, to be published in the same Journal, surveyed 1,296 students. It found that 3.6 per cent admitted to smoking between one and 20 cigarettes a day.
Close to 30 per cent of those aged between 13 and 14 years abused alcohol, drugs (10.1 per cent), and tobacco (21.7 per cent). The abuse was higher among those aged 19 to 20 years, with 49.5 per cent admitting to be using alcohol, 25 per cent drugs, and 39.8 per cent tobacco, according to findings released by African Mental Health Foundation. . . .
"Access to alcohol or cigarettes was particularly easier because the students can afford single sticks or small amounts. This requires a policy that prohibits the selling of these commodities in such amounts," said Prof David Ndetei.
Mombasa municipal council will ban smoking in public places on July 15, according to the deputy mayor.
Mr John Mcharo said the council was designating some zones in strategic areas of the town where smokers would be able to smoke without fear of being arrested.
The deputy mayor was addressing Madaraka Day celebrations at Mombasa Municipal Stadium.
He said the zones for smokers are expected to be ready by June 30, adding that there would be no excuse for any town dweller to release cigarette smoke in public when the by-law is effected in July.