Tag: Kenya

  • Singular offence

    Singular offence

    A Kenyan man has been told he must pay a Sh15,000 fine or serve five months in prison for selling single cigarettes, according to a story in The Nairobi News.

    The punishment was handed down by a Nyeri Court on Tuesday.

    The man, Simon Gichuki Maina, appeared before resident magistrate Ruth Kefa where he pleaded guilty to selling single cigarettes.

    The law states that cigarettes may be sold only in packs.

    The Court heard that Maina was arrested by Nyeri police at the Kasuku bar on February 11.

    Maina asked the court for leniency on the grounds that he did not know that selling single cigarettes was a crime.

  • Mastermind move in Kenya

    Mastermind move in Kenya

    Kenya’s second-biggest cigarette maker, Mastermind Tobacco, has entered into negotiations that could see it sell a majority stake to Philip Morris International, according to a story in The Business Daily.

    The Daily reported that the multi-billion-shilling deal was expected to include a cash injection into the business that would see Mastermind upgrade its factory to start producing Marlboro.

    Mastermind founder Wilfred Murungi reportedly declined to respond to the Daily’s requests for a comment, but multiple sources familiar with the ongoing negotiations were said to have indicated that the transaction was at an advanced stage.

    Mastermind manufactures brands such as Supermatch, Rocket and Supermatch Menthol, but its production could expand to take in some PMI brands, such as Marlboro, Parliament, Bond Street and Chesterfield.

    PMI is expected to acquire 51 percent of Mastermind’s shares.

    British American Tobacco is Kenya’s biggest cigarette maker while Cut Tobacco is third.

  • Shisha ban unofficial

    Shisha ban unofficial

    The Kenya Tobacco Control Alliance has called on the Health Ministry to make a ban on shisha smoking official, according to a story in The Star.

    The Alliance’s chairperson Joel Gitali said yesterday that the ministry had limited time to follow due process and make the ban official.

    The ban was reportedly imposed on December 28, 2017, by the-then Health Cabinet Secretary Cleopa Mailu who claimed shisha use had encouraged the peddling of hard drugs.

    But, according to Gitali, traders and manufacturers went to court to challenge the ban and, while the court on July 27, 2018, upheld the ban, it noted that the Ministry had not followed the correct procedure.

    The court gave the Ministry nine months to follow the correct procedure, but so far it has not done so, and the nine-month period is due to expire in April.

    “The ministry is supposed to do a public participation and come up with a law on the ban within the stipulated time to make it official,” Gitali said.

    “Should the nine months elapse, someone can challenge the ban and the court can reverse it.”

    The upshot of this is that, reportedly, and despite the ban, smokers are still using shisha behind the scenes.

    Meanwhile, Gitali called on the Ministry to constitute a working Tobacco Control Board, adding that failure to have one would go against the spirit of the tobacco control Act 2007.

    “We reckon that these unnecessary delays in constituting the board and operationalizing of the tobacco control fund are not only retrogressive but also frustrating the tobacco control fraternity,” Gitali said.

  • Leaf growing not lucrative

    Leaf growing not lucrative

    An abstract of a research paper posted on the Tobacco Control website concludes that tobacco farming is not a lucrative economic undertaking for smallholder farmers in Kenya.
    The paper is entitled: Costs, contracts and the narrative of prosperity: an economic analysis of smallholder tobacco farming livelihoods in Kenya.
    The researchers found that: ‘Both contract and independent farmers experience small profit margins per acre, with contract farmers operating at a loss. Even when family labour is excluded from the calculation, income levels remain low, particularly considering the typically large households.’

  • Jailed for smoking shisha

    Jailed for smoking shisha

    Six people have been sentenced to four months in prison by a court in Mombasa, Kenya, after they pleaded guilty to smoking shisha, according to a story in The Star.
    The six were among 10 people charged with smoking shisha in a restaurant in the Sparki area of Mombasa county.
    The other four, who denied the charges, were each released on a Sh50,000 bond.
    Police officers were said to have raided the restaurant after a tip-off.
    The former Health Cabinet Secretary Cleopas Mailu in December banned importing and smoking shisha, on the grounds that smoking shisha was a health hazard.
    Earlier this year, justice Roseline Aburili declined to lift the ban pending the hearing and determination of a legal challenge to the ban.
    The judge said even though the applicants had an arguable case, this didn’t mean their case would be successful.
    She said lifting the ban would be a wrong move and not in the interests of the public.
    The judge was of the view that should the court rule in favor of the applicants after the full hearing, it would not be impossible to revert to the initial status.

  • Seeking tax stability

    Seeking tax stability

    British American Tobacco Kenya has ratcheted up pressure against further increases in excise duty, according to a story in Business Daily Africa.
    BAT Kenya reportedly said on Friday that ‘unpredictable’ tax increases were a threat to its Kenya business.
    “We would encourage the government to have a much more stable tax environment so that we can have a more predictable operating environment,” the company’s MD, Beverly Spencer-Obatoyinbo, said in Nairobi.
    But tobacco control advocates have been piling pressure on the government to raise taxes on cigarettes from the current Sh2.50 per stick to Sh3.25 per stick, claiming they are still too low to curb tobacco consumption.
    “Currently, the average growth in the nominal price of a pack of cigarettes is lower than that of kerosene and food, and therefore cigarette smoking is going up,” said Rodgers Kidiya, the program officer in charge of research and development at the Nairobi-based International Institute for Legislative Affairs.
    BAT reported a 21.2 percent drop in full-year net profit to Sh3.3 billion, attributing this to lower sales in the wake of a weak performances on both local and export markets.

  • Grime and punishment

    Grime and punishment

    The citizens of Nairobi, Kenya, are being threatened with dire consequences, including jail, if they discard cigarette butts and other waste materials carelessly, according to a story in The Nairobi News.
    In a new directive announced by Nairobi County Environment CEC Larry Wambua, littering the streets will attract a fine of up to Sh5,000 or a six-months jail term.
    Wambua said the move was aimed at enforcing waste management laws in the city.
    He said that, in addition, people who failed to demonstrate where they had been disposing of their waste would also be ‘taken to task’.
    “We will need to know if you are giving waste to the registered companies,” he said. “If you fail to show us, it will attract a fine of Sh100,000 or one year in jail,” he said.

  • Regulations challenged

    Regulations challenged

    Two cigarette manufacturing firms have asked Kenya’s Supreme Court to throw out the country’s Tobacco Control Regulations of 2014, arguing that they were introduced arbitrarily, according to a story in The Nation.
    British American Tobacco and Mastermind Tobacco Kenya reportedly told five Supreme Court judges in Nairobi that the regulations, enacted to regulate the production and consumption of tobacco and its products, were developed to restrict their commercial interests.
    BAT filed the case to challenge the Court of Appeal’s dismissal of its plea against High Court Judge Mumbi Ngugi’s decision to disallow its petition challenging the regulations.
    Through its lawyers, BAT argued that the regulations were created without proper public participation and stakeholder consultations.
    The company asked the Supreme Court to rule that the ‘failure to conduct proper consultations rendered the entire regulations unconstitutional’.
    BAT said it was aggrieved with the provisions limiting interactions between public officials and the tobacco industry, which it termed as discriminatory and a violation of its constitutional rights.
    Lawyers for the company asked the Supreme Court judges to find also unconstitutional regulations that required it and other tobacco product manufactures to contribute two percent of their revenues to a consolidated fund.
    They said the levy was a form of forceful taxation imposed on their client and other cigarette and tobacco product manufacturers, and that it was derived from draconian Scottish, Roman and Dutch laws, and not English common laws.
    The regulations extended non-smoking zones to outdoor areas adjacent to public places, including streets, verandas and any others defined by the Health Cabinet Secretary.
    The rules, the lawyers added, violated constitutional rights to privacy, and intellectual property rights by requiring companies to reveal the contents of their products and their revenue.
    But Senior State Counsel Mohamed Adow opposed the appeal, saying the firms were protecting their commercial interests without regard to public safety and the health of millions of Kenyans.
    The judges have yet to indicate the date on which they will make their ruling public.

  • Taxing questions in Kenya

    Taxing questions in Kenya

    The current system for taxing cigarettes in Kenya should be replaced with a simplified one where all types of cigarettes are taxed equally, according to a story in The Star.
    Currently, filtered cigarettes are taxed at Sh1.80 per piece while those without filters are taxed at Sh2.50 per piece.
    The International Institute for Legislative Affairs (IILA), which is described as a Nairobi-based legal think tank, said the system had created many loopholes and that the government was ‘losing Sh7 billion every year in potential taxes’.
    The IILA has proposed the introduction of a flat rate of Sh3.25 per piece regardless of whether it is filtered or not.
    In fact, the Kenya Revenue Authority (KRA) adopted a flat taxation system in 2015, taxing cigarettes at Sh2.50 per piece regardless of type.
    “This move led to a drop of 17 percent in consumption of cigarettes and an increase of revenue of appropriately Sh7 billion from Sh8.23 billion to Sh15.56 billion,” Emma Wanyonyi, the IILA chief executive, said in Nairobi yesterday.
    But manufacturers had lobbied against the flat rate and the Treasury Cabinet Secretary Henry Rotich ordered the KRA to revert to the tiered system last year.
    The IILA submitted its recommendations to the treasury, which received 2018-19 tax proposals from key public and private sector players yesterday.
    BAT Kenya said it opposed increased taxes on the grounds that cigarettes would become ‘too expensive for ordinary people’.
    “We would encourage the government to have a much more stable tax environment so that their revenues can be more predictable and we can have a more predictable operating environment,” BAT Kenya managing director Beverly Spencer-Obatoyinbo said.

  • Arresting smokers

    Arresting smokers

    The authorities in Meru county, Kenya, have announced plans to arrest people smoking in public, according to a story in The Star.
    Meru is one of four counties in Kenya that grow tobacco; the others being Bungoma, Migori and Busia.
    Meru Health executive Eunice Kobia said yesterday that the move was part of the county’s resolve to regulate tobacco use.
    “At least one in every five men use tobacco,” Kobia said. “It is sad that smoking is part of the lifestyle of most of our youths.”
    Kobia said that smokers had ignored designated zones and were instead smoking in public places, including in minibuses, and at social gatherings and enclosed markets.
    “Residents are not aware of the effects of tobacco,” she said as she flagged off a lorry with a public-address system to campaign against tobacco use in Meru town.
    Kobia said the county would ‘rehabilitate’ cigarette smokers. “They should not fear coming forward,” she added. “We will help them to change.”
    Meanwhile, Kobia urged farmers to abandon tobacco in favor of other crops.
    Kenya Tobacco Control Board director Mary Muthoni praised Meru for its awareness campaign against tobacco use.
    Muthoni urged the county to allocate more funds to fight tobacco use, and she urged it to create youth-friendly centers to encourage people to seek rehabilitation.