Voters have had a say about the new Tobacco Control (Amendment) Bill 2024. And it should make uncomfortable reading for the Government.
A nationwide survey shows the Bill's proposed bans on flavoured vapes and nicotine pouches, plus punitive restrictions on other safer alternatives, will backfire dramatically - fuelling illicit trade, endangering people and killing job opportunities.
The findings are difficult to ignore. Nearly three in four Kenyans (73%) believe that banning safer nicotine alternatives will lead to illegal sales and black-market growth. Among those who use these products, 81% say bans will drive consumers underground, with only 1% strongly disagreeing.
If flavours were banned, half of users (52%) believe it would be easy to obtain banned products illegally, while just 7% expect it would be difficult. But perhaps most telling is the overwhelming support Kenyans have shown for a different approach to reducing the toll of smoking.
A survey of more than 1,000 adults by the Campaign for Safer Alternatives (CASA) reveals that 83% of respondents would support the Government adopting Tobacco Harm Reduction (THR) policies that include the integration of safer alternatives, while just 6% were opposed.
There is a strong awareness of THR and its public health benefits in Kenya: 85% of respondents believe that encouraging smokers to switch to safer alternatives would help them quit conventional cigarettes, and nearly two-thirds (63%) say the Government should run campaigns to promote switching to safer alternatives.
I know what is at stake. For years, I smoked cigarettes and tried to stop without success. What finally worked was switching to safer nicotine alternatives. They gave me the chance to quit smoking and protect my health.
Millions of smokers around the world have taken the same path. Where these alternatives are regulated sensibly, smoking rates have fallen, with real gains for public health.
The Bill would reverse that progress. By eliminating safer products, it would deny smokers an effective way to quit while at the same time undermining a growing legal industry.
International experience shows what happens when demand is ignored. In Germany, the sale of nicotine pouches has been banned. People continued to seek them out, and the black market grew rapidly. Today, more than one million people in Germany buy these products illegally.
Kenya’s illicit cigarette trade already controls 45% of the market, yet only 16% think the government is tackling it effectively. This Bill will make a bad situation worse.
The life-saving potential of smoke-free products depends on smart regulation. CASA supports rules that prevent underage use but keep safer alternatives accessible and affordable for adults. Smokers must be given clear, unbiased information, not misleading claims equating these products to cigarettes.
Safer nicotine alternatives are saving lives and easing the public health burden around the world. Banning them in Kenya is a gift to the black market and a death sentence for thousands of smokers.
It will endanger lives, deny smokers safer options and destroy businesses that could employ thousands at a time when 67% of Kenyans say unemployment is the country's biggest challenge.
Choosing prohibition instead of harm reduction will hand the market to criminals and make the problems harder to solve. Kenya must fight unemployment, not nicotine.
Joseph Magero, Chairman, Campaign for Safer Alternatives (CASA)
