Kenya is sitting on a time bomb as the country watches her children – as young as six years old – being initiated into tobacco use by the cunning industry.
This is even as Parliament continues to sit on written submissions and proposals on what to expunge from the Tobacco Control (Amendment) Bill, 2024 and what to retain.
“Please fast track the process, call us for the oral hearings and do not dilute the bill; do not listen to the industry. We know that the industry is lobbying parliament, because it’s just interested in making money,” anti-tobacco civil society organizations (CSOs) in Kenya is pleading with Parliament, and states that the emerging tobacco products are not harm reduction-based commodities.
In April this year, led by the Kenya Tobacco Control Alliance (KETCA) and the International Institute for Legislative Affairs (IILA) among others that form the Kenya Tobacco and Nicotine Tax Coalition (KTNTC), submitted formal memoranda to Parliament demanding the urgent passage of the Bill.
Fast forward, this has not happened and now the Coalition feels that Parliament is dragging its feet on this matter, and even suspect that the tobacco industry could be interfering with the legislation process.
“We cannot wait any longer. If we delay this process, we are also at risk of losing out on this legislative window that we have now,” states Celine Awuor, the Chief Executive Officer, IILA.
The Coalition is urging lawmakers to reject industry attempts to weaken the bill and to strictly regulate emerging products like vapes and nicotine pouches, and she explains that it’s because Kenya does not have a strict framework for regulating these products.
“Five years, 10 years from now, we’ll be looking at figures, and the prevalence rates way higher than they are now. We have a chance to nip this in the bud before it goes out of hand,” she told journalists on Friday morning in Nairobi.
Awuor says that by now the process should have been subjected to the public hearings since the written submission window closed in April. She feels that the process is not moving, yet the written submissions were done slightly over two months ago.
“We gave our written comments, but we are yet to be called for public hearings, yet we know that the industry is lobbying Parliament and probably this is what is causing the delay.
“So, we would like for this process to be concluded as soon as possible because next year there are elections, and thus, the process likely to be interfered with,” she added.
The Tobacco Control (Amendment) Bill, also known as the Senate Bill number 35 of 2024 has been in the legislative process now for almost two years. When it was forwarded to the National Assembly, the Departmental Committee on Health called for public participation, but suddenly the process stalled.
Awuor explains that the Senate looked at it, finished the public participation and took it to National Assembly, but now suspects that the industry is interfering with the process.
“We are calling on National Assembly not to dilute that bill,” she said, explaining the reasons. The Bill, she argues, has some good and strong measures on regulation of electronic cigarettes, nicotine pouches, and generally, the new emerging products that have not been effectively regulated under the existing Act of 2007.
Therefore, the more this process delays, the more many young Kenyans, children, and adolescents are at risk of being recruited into nicotine addiction, she notes.
The delay, Awuor cites, it is worsening the health burden associated with the tobacco use. “So, our call today is that we want to see progress in this process, we want Parliament to call us to give our oral submissions for hearing on the bill, the National Assembly, not to dilute those provisions; to retain them and actually enhance them based on the comments we submitted,” she emphasised.
Some of the good things that are in the amendment bill, include a proposal to prohibit or ban disposable electronic cigarettes. “This is because they are easily accepted due their affordability compared to the ones that come as a full package, where you have to be inserting the nicotine liquid,” Awuor explains, revealing a proposal to prohibit characterizing flavors and additives on these products is a good one and should also be retained.
These products are being consumed more by young people because they have been masked using flavors that are attractive and appealing to children and adolescents.
“The other provision that is in the bill that we’ve highlighted, and that must be retained is the provision around having child tamper proof protections on these products so that children are protected from using these products,” she said.
The Coalition is insisting that the law must be clear that the emerging tobacco products are not and must not be used or marketed as cessation products because they are not.
“They are luxury products, they are addictive and they should be firmly regulated as tobacco products within the Tobacco Control Act framework,” Thomas Lindi, head of the Coalition’s Secretariat said.
The 2022 Tobacco, Alcohol, and Drugs Abuse Survey by NACADA – officially the National Survey on the Status of Drugs and Substance Use in Kenya – targeted individuals aged 15 to 65. It revealed that 1 in every 6 Kenyans uses at least one substance of abuse, with alcohol remaining the most widely abused substance nationally.
The study found out that the average age for initiating substances like tobacco, alcohol, cannabis, and khat (miraa) dropped to the 16–20 years age bracket, highlighting an alarming trend of early initiation, with some children as young as 6 years old suspected of starting tobacco use.
“1 in every 11 youth was reported to be abusing multiple drugs,” the survey indicated at the time, a situation the Coalition is concerned that could be different with the proliferation of flavoured tobacco products.
A 2024 Youth and Tobacco in Africa (DaYTA) survey by Development Gateway on the prevalence and associated factors of tobacco and nicotine use among adolescents aged 10 -17 years in urban and rural areas in Kenya found out that 6.5 percent of Kenyan adolescents had tried tobacco at least once, while 2.5 percent had used tobacco in the last 30 days.
“Children as early as age five reported experimenting with the use of smokeless tobacco and roll-your-own (RYO) cigarettes,” the survey showed, citing that nearly four in 10 adolescents who had ever used any tobacco and/or nicotine product were exposed to tobacco marketing through televisions, videos, or movies.
Despite a ban on tobacco sales to minors, they continue to access tobacco easily. Only 5.4 percent and 8.7 percent reported being denied purchase of electronic cigarettes and manufactured cigarettes, respectively.
The survey was a household-based, cross-sectional study that sampled 6,435 adolescents across 16 counties: Mombasa, Kilifi, Garissa, Marsabit, Meru, Kitui, Nyeri, Kirinyaga, Turkana, Trans Nzoia, Nandi, Laikipia, Busia, Migori, Nyamira, and Nairobi
However, Lindi argues that if Kenya implements a bold 50 percent annual increase in tobacco and nicotine taxes, smoking rates could fall from 7.15 percent to about 5.84 percent an 18 percent reduction.
“More importantly, this policy alone has the potential to prevent nearly 90,000 premature deaths. This shows that higher tobacco taxes are not just about revenue they are about saving lives, protecting young people from addiction, and reducing the heavy burden of disease on families and the health system,” he emphasizes.
The Coalition comprises of eight CSOs, including the Kenya Network of Cancer Organisations (KENCO); and the National Taxpayers Association (NTA). Others include youth groups, informal worker unions, and non-communicable disease (NCD) prevention advocates.
