Tobacco.org

Smoking tobacco out of people's lives 

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.

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