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The war between the tobacco industry and various social organisations has gone a notch higher with lawyers allied to the African Tobacco Alliance and the Campaign for Tobacco Free Kids calling on the government to tighten its control legislations, to reduce the number of smokers in the country.
Chairperson of the Africa Tobacco Control Alliance (ATCA) Rachel Kittonyo said on Saturday that more than 18.2 percent of boys and girls in Kenya aged between 13 and 15 were currently smoking.
"These are very worrying figures because in 2001 the figure was at 11 percent. This means that in a span of seven years the figure has almost doubled. If we do not do anything about it then in the next seven years, the figures will have shot up even higher," she stated.
Pamela Lambert, an official of Tobacco Free Kids, held that a concerted educational effort on the harmful effects of tobacco between the Kenyan government and citizens would reduce the number of smokers, noting that education had seen the number of smokers in developed nations go down.
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Public health officers will be involved in the enforcement of smoking regulations across the country.
Public Health and Sanitation Minister Beth Mugo said that already, 80 public health officers have been trained as public health prosecutors to strengthen their capacity to enforce the Tobacco Control Act (2007) among other public health statutes.
Mrs Mugo added that a continuing programme has been launched for tobacco enforcers and public health officers, police officers, among others, are involved.
She said that the training would ensure that all towns in the country are free from tobacco smoke.
For BAT-Kenya shareholders, however, smoke has meant one of the highest returns at the Nairobi Stock Exchange in the past one year, making a mockery of the bourse’s one-year bearish run.
The returns have been two-fold, in price appreciation and dividend pay-out. On January 21, for example, BAT shares were selling at Ksh137 ($1.75), but by June 24, the price had risen to Ksh170 ($2.2), an appreciation of Ksh43 (US 55 cents).
A shareholder who bought into the company on January 21 would, however, have made a bigger killing, given that BAT-Kenya paid a final dividend of Ksh12.50 (US 16 cents) on April 30.
Taken together, the price appreciation and dividend payout mean that the total gain per share for the investor would have been Ksh55.50 (US 71 cents) by last week, equivalent to a 41 per cent gain in investment in just four-and-a-half months. Globally, annual gains of around 10 per cent on capital are considered good.
The gains registered by the BAT stock far outstrip those made by the NSE over the last four weeks, when the bourse registered some recovery pressure.
Rachel Kitonyo may not be a favourite with tobacco manufacturers and smokers in Kenya due to her recent work in tobacco control. In fact, if she was to have her way, Kitonyo would be perfectly happy in a Kenya where no one smoked and no lawful tobacco growing, manufacturing, advertising and usage was taking place.
"If no one smoked, we would be happy," says the executive director of the Institute of Legal Affairs. However, her brave and dedicated work through the institute in helping draft regulations under the Tobacco Control Act 2007, drafting and lobbying for the passing of the Act and in drafting subsidiary legislation to ban smoking in public places under the Public Health Act have received international acclaim from the Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids and the Wilkenfeld family, leading to her being awarded of the second Judy Wilkenfeld Award for International Tobacco Control Excellence. . . .
Kitonyo's initial idea of a career in law was the life of glamour with a prestigious law firm. A road accident that left her with a broken arm and dislocated knee, was to however change her focus and become a lawyer of a different kind. . . .
The first Bill they picked was the Tobacco Control Bill, which had stuck in Parliament since 1998 due to strong lobbying against it by the tobacco industry.
The draft in Parliament was a weak one that did not even meet the minimum requirements as set by the Framework Convention on Tobacco Control (FCTC) to which Kenya was a signatory. The convention gave minimum requirements for tobacco control in legislation and a country was supposed to enact domestic legislation based on that.
It was also a Bill that affected the largest number of Kenyans, smokers, non-smokers and the economy.
As Christians they believed that any addictive stuff should not be allowed. Smokers, who are at a national average of 12 per cent, also needed to be protected from slowly but surely killing themselves.
Cigarette manufacturers risk prosecution if they do not adhere to the Tobacco Control Act that calls for pictorial warning messages on the cigarettes packs.
The Ministry of Public Health and Sanitation says that the Act which obligates players to give both words and pictorial messages is in force.
The Chairman of the Tobacco Control Board Prof Peter Odhiambo said the deadline or compliance with the new law has run out.
"Pictorial messages will be more effective than just written words because we know that we have some cases in rural areas where some people cannot read. Tobacco health warnings are therefore strong defenses," he said.
The government has proposed new measures to outlaw smoking on the streets and raise the price of cigarettes.
Public Health and Sanitation minister, Beth Mugo, has proposed amendments to the Tobacco Act to ban smoking on the streets countrywide.
Section 33 of the Act prohibits smoking in restaurants, public buildings, factories, hospitals and other public places but says nothing about the streets.
Some local authorities such as the City Council of Nairobi, Nakuru Municipal Council and Kangundo County Council have passed by-laws banning smoking on the streets.
The ministry has also asked Treasury to increase excise duty for Tobacco products to force more people to abandon smoking.
British American Tobacco, wants the government to reduce excise duty on cigarettes to lock out illicit traders from the local market. The pitch for lower taxes by the largest cigarette manufacturer comes several weeks ahead of the budget that is traditionally read in June.
The government mostly targets the sin taxes that include cigarettes and alcohol during the budget to raise revenue. However, speaking during the company’s annual general meeting at the Intercontinental hotel on Thursday, the CEO Gary Fagan said the excise duty had increased to unsustainable levels, making the product unaffordable to the low-end market while opening ground for illicit cigarettes to find their way into the local market.
“The government needs to understand that excessive excise tax increases will lead to a decline of the legal market and provide incentive for illicit trade (tax evasion and smuggling) to grow,”
Anti-tobacco campaigners want the Government to protect the public from second hand smoke in all public places, including the streets.
They have also challenged Parliament to enact the necessary amendments to the Tobacco Control Act 2007 to protect non-smokers from second hand smoke everywhere accessed by the public but not currently covered in the Act.
In a joint statement yesterday, the Institute for Legislative Affairs and the Kenya Tobacco Control Alliance protested against the recent notice by the Ministry of Local Government indicating that people can now smoke freely on the streets. "A notice by Ministry of Local government that smoking in the street is allowed is contrary to the spirit of the Act, which gives the right to a smoke free environment and the constitutional right to life," said ILA Executive Director Rachel Kitonyo.
She said the announcement was in bad faith and the organisations can only read the hand of the tobacco industry in it.
Last year, cigarette maker British American Tobacco Kenya donated Sh10 million to the Kenya Red Cross Society to help settle political violence victims. This year the disaster management organisation went back to the tobacco firm for help, but came out empty handed.
BAT Kenya has declined to support charity organisations because of stringent tobacco control laws that have not only banned smoking in public places, but has also prohibited cigarette companies from advertising their products and sponsoring social or charity events.
"Some people even suggested we should donate quietly, but we said any donation for charity work is contrary to the new laws. We have stopped sponsoring communities around us" says Julie Adell-Owino, the firm's head of corporate and regulatory affairs.
The tobacco firm declined to give financial support to the Kenya Red Cross despite an existing memorandum of understanding between the two organizations outlining parameters of co-operation.
Two weeks ago, the tobacco company also declined to heed President Kibaki's request for donations to support the victims of the Molo and Nakumatt fire disasters.
"It will be morally wrong to bend the laws to suit a particular moment. This will portray the company in a bad light, we will always stick with the law" says BAT, which supported the enactment of the laws on the grounds that it would bar children from accessing cigarettes and that it will also address health concerns levelled against tobacco products.
The stand taken by BAT has been replicated by other tobacco manufacturing firms in Kenya and it is likely to hurt social amenities supported by these firms. . . .
Last year, BAT Kenya donated 300 computers to schools and this earned it a seat on the country's ICT board. As a result of the stringent anti smoking laws, tobacco firms have been left sitting on millions of shillings allocated for social responsibility activities but which they cannot spend.
British American Tobacco (BAT) Kenya Limited weathered a stiff anti-smoking campaign, including a ban on its corporate sponsorship programmes, to record a modest increase in profits.
Steps to comply with Tobacco Control Act 2007 cost the company Sh100 million, through the removal of all branded material from the market as well as effect packaging changes to comply with Ministry of Health requirements.
Also hitting the tobacco business has been enormous increases in excise duty, which went up by 31 per cent last year.
British American Tobacco Plc’s Kenyan unit posted a 22 percent increase in full-year profit, helped by increased sales of the leaf on contract and “prudent cost control.”
I bring this up because earlier this week a more than 100 people in Kenya died when a gas truck overturned. It wasn't the crash that killed them, it was the belief that smoking a cigarette near an overturned gas truck was a safe and prudent practice.
According to the article I read "the road was blocked by hundreds of people with gerry cans, plastic bottles and buckets attempting to siphon some free fuel." Apparently while all this was going on somebody lit a cigarette and that was that. Isn't it amazing how people so poor they're trying to fill a Wonder Bread bag with gas can still afford cigarettes? I guess it's all about priorities.
Maybe the Kenyan cigarette companies should do a better job of labeling their packages. "When standing in the middle of a hundred people holding unapproved gasoline containers, smoking could be hazardous to everyone within a quarter mile radius." I blame the entire tragedy on the tobacco industry.
THERE were not nearly enough hospital beds, or body bags, to cope.
After one of Kenya's deadliest accidents in recent memory, burns victims lined the floors of overwhelmed hospitals yesterday, hooked up to drips and moaning in pain.
An overturned petrol tanker had exploded as hundreds of people rushed to scoop up the fuel. More than 113 people were killed and 200 injured in the resulting inferno, which is believed to have been sparked by a cigarette.
Kenya began a week of mourning on Monday for at least 142 people who died in a petrol tanker blaze and another fire in a Nairobi supermarket that have brought a torrent of criticism of poor disaster preparedness.
Flags flew at half-mast and official functions were put on hold as rescuers continued to pull charred bodies from both disaster sites and relatives hunted for missing people.
In one of Kenya's worst accidents of recent times, at least 115 people died when a crowd scrabbling for free fuel crowded round a tanker that crashed near central Molo town Saturday. The toll rose by nine from deaths overnight in hospital.
A cigarette set off the blaze, engulfing the crowd in flames, and also leaving nearly 200 people injured. . . .
Most officials said a cigarette caused the Molo blaze.
Some witnesses said a man angered at being stopped by police from scooping petrol threw a cigarette butt on the ground deliberately.
An Indian-origin smuggler, who was part of a gang that smuggled over 8 million counterfeit cigarettes into the UK in 2003, has been ordered by a British court to pay 1 million pounds.
The Leicester Crown Court ordered Amarjit Singh Kullar (40), one of the masterminds of the 10-member gang, to pay the money within six months or spend another three years in jail. Kullar was sentenced to two years in jail in 2006.
The crime, the court said, was "motivated by greed" and resulted in the loss of 1.2 million pounds to tax revenue.
Nick Burris, assistant chief investigation officer for Revenue and Customs, told the hearing, "This was a sophisticated, well-planned and large-scale smuggling operation which involved a large container of counterfeit cigarettes.
The cigarettes were smuggled from Kenya and then packaged as well-known brands and concealed inside 280 cartons labelled as tea. The container-load arrived at Felixstowe docks, on August 15, 2003, and was intercepted by Customs and Excise officers.