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"speaker_name": "Mr. Sungu",
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"content": "But Parliament is still left behind. I want to say that it is incumbent upon the Ninth Parliament of the Republic of Kenya to ensure that there is a proper legal framework within which tobacco can be used and grown in Kenya. Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, as I said earlier, we had gone through this only last year, and this matter has been debated. So, I will just go through a few things. I want to say that from the farmer to the consumer, Kenyans are faced with grave health problems as a result of tobacco use. Tobacco contributes to diseases and this is well known. It also increases poverty. The 2668 PARLIAMENTARY DEBATES July 19, 2007 money that is earned in selling tobacco does not enrich the farmer or the factory worker, and this is a fact. It is a fact that tobacco creates wealth for a few, mostly foreign individuals, who own the manufacturing companies like the BAT, Philip Morris and so on. The Ministry of Health spends millions of shillings every year treating diseases related to tobacco use such as cancer, skin diseases, chest problems and spontaneous abortions, which are due to chemicals in the tobacco, yet there is no provision in Kenyan laws to allow for compensation for these victims. As a result, many lives have been lost yet little attention is given to tobacco control. HIV/AIDS, which has led to fewer deaths in this country, has been given a lot of publicity and attention by this Government and in Parliament. Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, in the year 2004, about 22,000 tobacco farmers were paid only Kshs600 million for their work. If you calculate, this works out to about Kshs27,000 per family per year, or Kshs2,250 per month. This kind of meagre earnings make farmers to live in poverty, and expose them to food insecurity because the land cannot be utilized for food production. As a result, they cannot have enough money to feed on. The statistics available indicate that approximately 27 per cent of Kenyans smoke regularly, and that means that about six million Kenyans, men and women, are trapped in this prison of tobacco addiction. It is disheartening to note that according to the Global Youth Tobacco Survey, approximately 13 per cent of our pupils in schools have already been addicted to tobacco smoking. This means that approximately over one million of our children are already addicted to smoking. They have already embarked on a career of smoking tobacco at that very early age. Another 45 per cent, according to this survey, of our youth in secondary schools are also smokers. As a result, many of them will die before the age of 45 years because of tobacco addiction. Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, it is stated, according to statistics, that Kenyans smoke approximately 10 billion cigarettes in one year, which is, roughly speaking, about 330 cigarettes per Kenyan per year, or one cigarette per Kenyan per day. Consider that the average cost of two packets of cigarettes is now over Kshs100. Compare that to the price of milk and bread. It is definite that the milk and bread is less expensive. It is fairly obvious that we are misusing our scarce resources by burning them away in smoke, which is harmful to our health, when we can easily use them to feed our people; but there is a way out. The slavery of tobacco addiction can be fought. We owe Kenyans, as a Parliament, a duty to give them a legal framework within which this malaise can be regulated and controlled. We must not--- I want to congratulate the Minister, as well as other organizations such as NACADA, and the officers at the Ministry of Health and the World Health Organisation (WHO), for trying to make sure that the use of tobacco is prioritised, as a matter of urgency, in terms of control and regulation. This issue must be dealt with now because it affects our children. Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, the main objective of having a law to regulate and control tobacco use is to protect present and future generations from the devastating health, social and environmental, as well as, economic consequences of tobacco use, consumption and, above all, exposure to second-hand smoking. The person speaking now was one time, in a matatu, forced to inhale smoke, although I was not a smoker. When I complained to the person smoking right in front of me, he told me: \" Wewe nunua gari lako !\" I had to leave the matatu because the smoke affected me, but I did not have to leave that matatu . This only happened because there was no legal framework to provide for the protection of those who may not be smoking. Therefore, I want to support this Bill fully, because even non-smokers have rights. I want to add, also in urging this House to pass this Bill, that, in fact, the Bill does not intend to stop people from smoking all together. It only intends to provide a legal framework in which they can smoke peacefully in an environment where others are protected from the harmful effects of their second-hand smoke. In their favour, it also provides a legal framework in which there can be compensation if it is proven July 19, 2007 PARLIAMENTARY DEBATES 2669 that one has suffered because of tobacco. The issue of tobacco control is an international one. It is so important that right now in the Congress it is a major issue that is cutting across the political divide in the USA. In many countries, it is now illegal to smoke in public places. In Ireland, tobacco use was banned a long time back. In the UK, with effect from 1st July, 2007 you cannot smoke anywhere in public. In the City and the State of New York in the USA, Bloomberg has brought countless amounts of money to help in the control of tobacco, yet we know also that the tobacco is very powerful, indeed. It has fangs; it can bite! We know what companies like Philip Morris have done. Kenyans need to wake up to the fact that some of these companies have now relocated to other areas, and to Kenya in particular. The BAT, because of legislation by a Parliament which is younger than ours--- The Parliament of Uganda, our sister Parliament, passed laws to ensure there was control of tobacco. As a result, the BAT closed its Jinja factory and brought it to Nairobi. We are being openly abused by the tobacco industry. Therefore, I want to urge this Parliament to carry out its noble responsibility of protecting Kenyans by passing this law. Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, noting that there are many people interested in discussing this Bill, I will stop there. With those few remarks, I beg to support."
}