Kenya's first no-smoking town: Nakuru rules for fresh breath
Story by MICHAEL NJUGUNA and Correspondent
Publication Date: 2007/05/13
Smokers living in or passing by Nakuru town have every reason to be worried. It is now illegal to puff away in public places in the town after the Ministry of Local Government approved last month the municipal council’s by-law allowing it to arrest and prosecute any person found doing so.
The Council’s director of Environment, Mr Simon Kiarie, confirmed the Gazette notice.
The action in Nakuru is being carried out independent of the controversial Tobacco Control Bill, which is expected before Parliament soon.
For smokers, the Government’s proposed Tobacco Control Bill is probably one of the most draconian legislative proposals since the controversial anti-terrorism Bill shelved by Parliament in June last year.
Section 22 of the proposed anti-smoking law, for instance, suggests that any depiction of smoking, be it in a painting, a drawing, a photograph, a film, a song or even an educational text will be considered a testimonial or endorsement of tobacco products and those who contravene this section of the Bill will be liable to a Sh500,000 fine or three years’ imprisonment or both!
Section 29 plans to regulate foreign publications or broadcasts that are sold or aired by the electronic media in Kenya. Any person using these to disseminate promotional material that contains a tobacco-related brand element contrary to the proposed law will be liable to a fine not exceeding Sh3 million or to imprisonment for a term not exceeding three years or to both.
Depict smoking
This basically means films, TV programmes, and magazines that depict smoking will be either banned, or censored to hide smoking. Last August in Britain where they have similar harsh laws, the cartoon duo Tom and Jerry were investigated by media watchdogs for lighting up on screen.
A viewer complained about the cartoons, aired on children’s channel Boomerang, saying they were not appropriate for young viewers.
Media regulator Ofcom investigated and the channel agreed to edit out scenes which glamourise or condone smoking in future.
In India, the home of Bollywood, it was reported during last year’s “World No Tobacco Day” that the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting and that of Health had agreed to banning smoking scenes in films and on television.
The Indian Health Minister told journalists that he hoped that in the next few months there would be restrictions on films depicting smoking both for the cinema and for TV.
The Information and Broadcasting Minister had earlier questioned the ban wondering how a film could show a character like the wartime British premier Winston Churchill without his trademark cigar.
The compromise means in part that as far as the depiction of smoking in old, classic movies goes, there will be a warning and advisory appearing on the screen every time smoking is shown.
Perhaps recalling the negative way in which last year’s attempt at a nationwide smoking ban affected the population which felt somewhat ambushed, in Nakuru, they are taking the ban slowly.
“We are carrying out a sensitisation campaign before we start arresting people found smoking in public,” deputy Town Clerk George Kombo told the Sunday Nation.
Mr Kombo was not specific on the duration of the grace period but he was categorical that the Council would enforce the smoking ban.
“We didn’t want to catch smokers by surprise. We wanted everyone to know that smoking in public places in the town is now illegal and those found flouting the law will be arrested and charged in court,” Mr Kombo said.
The by-law says in part: “Pursuant to Section 205 of the Local Government Act, the municipal council of Nakuru has with the approval of the Minister for Local Government made the environmental management by-law, 2006 and shall now have the force of the law from the date of publication of this notice.”
Formal complaint
A Council enforcement official said that even as smokers continue enjoying the “grace” period, nothing will stop the Municipal Inspectorate from arresting a smoker if any member of the public makes a formal complaint.
He cited cases whereby some street traders smoked while they served non-smokers.
“Since the by-law is now gazetted, nothing will stop us from arresting smokers and taking them to court accordingly,” the official said.
The Council’s director of environment, Mr Simon Kiarie, said that a notice on the requirements of the new by-law would be published in the press soon.
Nakuru town is a busy stop-over for people travelling from Nairobi to Western Kenya and the Northern Rift Valley districts. However, from now on any traveller who thinks they can have a quick cigarette break when they stop-over at the busy Nakuru bus station will be risking a trip to a police cell and the end of their journey.
A spot-check by the Sunday Nation found many smokers lighting up at the Bus Station where passengers, drivers, conductors and matatu crews mix and mingle between trips.
Despite the Council’s positive outlook, on the affair, the main challenge for them will be policing the smoking ban.
During the brief period last year when the nationwide smoking ban was in force, before a law suit put it to a stop, people found quite ingenious ways to sneak a cigarette in public. Some smoked on the roofs of buildings, others smoked in their cars with the windows wound up.
A law in Uganda banning smoking in public places like bars and restaurants is being openly flouted, despite the risk of imprisonment and a cash fine.
In South Africa, though, some places are practically no-go areas for people wanting to light up.
There was also a debate about just what constituted a public place. If a person smoked in his house, but somehow the neighbours claimed to be affected by the smoke, would the smoker in the privacy of his own house be liable?
In June last year, the Ministry of Health’s nationwide ban on smoking in public was set aside by a High Court judge, Justice Joseph Nyamu, who granted an indefinite extension of an order barring the Government from enforcing a ban that had been issued in May of the same year, pending a law suit against the Government.
WHO framework
Health minister Charity Ngilu had earlier said that the rules to ban smoking in public were in line with the World Health Organisation Framework Convention on Tobacco Control, which Kenya has ratified.
She quoted medical research that has concluded that smoking and exposure to second-hand smoking are harmful, saying that the push to ban smoking was a worldwide phenomenon.
The Tobacco Control Bill, which was before Parliament last year, aimed, among other things, to establish a legal entity to regulate the growing, manufacture, sale, distribution, use of and advertising of tobacco and all related products.
The Bill sailed through its second reading in the House, with an assistant minister of health, Dr Enock Kibunguchy, “revealing” that seven billion sticks of cigarettes were smoked in Kenya every year.
