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"id": 215264,
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"speaker_name": "Mr. Muturi",
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"legal_name": "Justin Bedan Njoka Muturi",
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"content": "Thank you, Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, for giving me this chance to say a few words about this very important Bill. I may begin by saying that I was once a smoker, but I stopped the habit voluntarily. But I think, even as we contribute to this Bill, we should appreciate that it is not going to curb the habit of smoking. We can say whatever we feel about the harmful effects of smoking, but I can assure you that I do not anticipate, in our lifetime, that we are going to see a country called Kenya, that has no smokers. Certainly not in our lifetime! I do not think it is going to be possible. However, what I support is the effort, or attempt, being made through this Bill to ensure that those who choose to smoke have sufficient warning of the full effects of the habit they are going to engage in. Also, an attempt is being made to ensure that those who do not smoke, or do not partake of the habit, are not exposed to the harmful effects of the habit. I welcome the move that is now being made into law, that nobody will sell cigarettes, or July 5, 2007 PARLIAMENTARY DEBATES 2333 tobacco products, to people under the age of 18. That is a welcome move. It has already happened in very many countries in the world and we were lagging behind by not putting it into law. I think that when finally this Bill is passed, it is important that the Ministry goes round the country, educating our traders; those small traders with kiosks, because there are heavy penalties proposed in this Bill. Of course, we, as a country, submit to the maxim that ignorance of the law is no defence. Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, the mere fact that we will pass this Bill, we are speaking about the harmful effects of smoking, and we are saying that the law will say that you should not sell cigarettes, or any tobacco products, to people under the age of 18, is not going to permeate to every corner of the Republic overnight. Therefore, I just want to caution that there will be great need for a serious and ambitious public campaign, similar to the civic education that was carried out a few years ago during the attempt to do what was then called \"a comprehensive constitutional review\". I say this because, again, people should not merely be punished for engaging in what they may perceive to be legitimate business. I know that to the ordinary Kenyan, it is considered discourteous to ask somebody to produce their identity card merely to prove their age. Therein, lies the catch. Quite a number of business people could find themselves in jail, or paying heavy fines, because they felt they wanted to be good and courteous. They do not want to ask somebody--- You will see that somebody will just argue that: \"When I looked at him or her, she or he appeared to me mature enough.\" However, somebody somewhere, who may want to fix them, will come and say: \"No, my daughter or son is 17 years old! That is a fellow who has sold to him that packet of cigarettes.\" So, I just want to urge that there should be a very serious campaign to educate our people about the full implications of this law. Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, in my constituency, we grow tobacco. However, I am one person who cannot stand here and pretend to have seen any serious benefits. It is true that tobacco companies rake in billions of shillings, year in, year out, but what goes to the farmer is peanuts. What I am saying is that you can travel the breadth and width of this country in all tobacco growing areas, and what you will see is abject poverty. Go to Malakisi, in the constituency of Mr. Ojaamong. I happen to have worked in those areas; they grow a lot of tobacco, but if you just go to the villages, you cannot believe what those tobacco companies claim every year to be their profits. You will wonder: How come they are raking in so much in profit yet there is nothing on the ground? There is a disconnect between what the companies are earning and what the farmers are earning. It is the same if you go to Kehancha in Kuria; it is poverty and yet those are areas that have traditionally, and for many decades, been known to be tobacco-growing. If you go to Kitui, it is the same thing. Even in Mitunguu area in Meru South District and in my area. All those areas are similar in one thing; poverty. So, one wonders, in as much we are told that tobacco farming is an economic engagement, there is no co-relation between what we hear, year in, year out, being reported by tobacco companies and what goes down to the farmers. Therefore, the reason I am saying this is because I cautioned that we are not saying that by enacting this law Kenya will suddenly transform itself into a non-smoking country. Never! We will be cheating ourselves. Indeed, Kenya is small in terms of cigarette consumption. The people who smoke in this country are so few, compared to the major smoking powers, that we are actually insignificant. The reason I welcome this Bill is because it is making an attempt at ensuring that those who are not in the habit, are protected, and those in the habit are fully made aware that the habit they are engaging in is injurious to their health; it is harmful. We need to be also realistic as we seek to control. I do not know whether we are going to control or minimise when we talk about cigarettes being imported into the country and insist that every tobacco product in the country 2334 PARLIAMENTARY DEBATES July 5, 2007 should have a warning label, in both English and Swahili, which is provided for under Clause 21(2)(a). It states as follows:- \"Every package containing a tobacco product shall- (a) have at least two warning labels of the same health messages, in both English and Kiswahili, comprising of not less than 30 per cent of the total surface area of the front panel and 50 per cent of the total surface area of the rear panel, and both located on the lower portion of the package directly underneath the cellophane or other clear wrapping;\" Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, since we are not banning the importation of cigarettes, are we, therefore, going to say that if the cigarettes are coming from China, the Chinese must begin to learn Kiswahili, or if the products are coming from Egypt, the Egyptians must learn Kiswahili? I am wondering about the practicality of this clause. It is good that we have these warnings, but I think the Kiswahili bit should be limited to what is manufactured locally. That is the point I am making because I do not know how that will be administered. It will be very difficult. There are some cigarette brands that are not manufactured in Kenya, yet it is the right of those who choose to smoke or consume tobacco products to do so. I agree that they should be warned of the dangers inherent in the habit. However, we are making it difficult for importers to sell. If we import cigarettes that have only a label written in English, saying that cigarette smoking is dangerous or injurious to your health, or a similar warning like the one Prof. Oniang'o talked about, and there is no similar warning in Kiswahili, yet failing to give that warning is a crime, what should we make of the person who imports those brands of cigarettes? Are we saying that the importer should repackage those products? This, to me, does not seem to be very practical in terms of business. Surely, from the business point of view, that is impracticable. Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, we all want to be proud of our languages. In fact, I am sure that hon. Mwenje would want the warning to be in Kikuyu. However, a person who comes from Nyanza may not understand what it is all about. Another person may want the warning to be written in Dholuo. The hon. Minister, Dr. Kibunguchy, may want it written in Kibukusu. It is only him and I who would understand the warning when we read it. We should not make it impossible for the business people to operate because we are not banning the use of tobacco. Since all we are doing is to control its use, let us make it also possible for the business people to operate. Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, there is another issue which is contained in the same Clause 21(6). This is very important, and I want the Assistant Minister to listen. On the same point of doing things in a manner that is going to be efficient, there is a requirement in Clause 21(6) which is going to be impracticable. I want the Assistant Minister to listen to this. It says:- \"Every manufacturer, or importer, shall provide inside every package, in the prescribed form and manner, a leaflet that displays the information required by regulations about the tobacco product and its emissions and about the health hazards and health effects arising from the use of the product and its emissions.\" We must also face facts. Majority of the people who smoke, consume brands such as Sportsman or another one called Sina Mpenzi or, in short, SM. These are the brands of cigarettes which are smoked by a majority of poor Kenyans. When the seller or the kiosk owner, who is dispensing, is asked by the smokers to sell to them one stick of cigarette, he is forced to open just a small bit on the packet and remove one stick of the products and sell it to the poor Kenyans. What is the rationale of labelling the small package which is inside? If the intention of labelling was to inform the smoker that the product he or she is going to consume is harmful, but it is put inside--- I am sure the Assistant Minister for Health, Dr. Kibunguchy, who moved this Bill, is a smoker. I know he knows how the Sportsman and the SM brands of cigarettes are packaged. July 5, 2007 PARLIAMENTARY DEBATES 2335"
}