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"content": "Thank you, Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir. I am speaking on behalf of the Committee on Health, Housing, Labour and Social Welfare, as the Chairman. This Bill was referred to my Committee on 1st November, 2006, when it was read the First Time. I must take this opportunity to thank the House and all those whom we have worked with to make it possible for it to come before this House at this time. Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, history shows that the Tobacco Bill has been coming to this House, year in, year out; from 1999. However, it has not had the opportunity to pass or be enacted as a law for this country. The World Health Organization (WHO) had a treaty called the Framework Convention on Tobacco Control which came into effect in 1999. It was ratified in 2003. Kenya was one of the signatories to that treaty. However, since that time, Kenya has not domesticated this treaty. It is now time for us to domesticate it, although we may have quite a number of people who, maybe, do not understand the reason why it is here. The Minister for Health has brought a Bill. I must thank Mr. Sungu who brought a Private Members' Bill. We, as a Committee, had to merge the two Bills. We have been working together with the Ministry of Health, and Mr. Sungu, in my Committee, to make sure that the Bill has been put in the right perspective. We, as a Committee, are now happy that it is here. The objective of this Bill is to protect the health of Kenyans, from the proven and globally- accepted negative consequences of tobacco use. We are all aware that tobacco has got very strong chemicals which affect the health of the human body. I am talking as a doctor. Tobacco is a cause of very many serious diseases. It is the cause of deaths of many people from high blood pressure, because it constricts the blood vessels. As a result, people can suffer stroke. It also has got an effect on the respiratory system. People who smoke cough nearly all the time. They also have bronchitis all the time. At the end of the day, it also causes cancer of the respiratory system. In addition, it has an effect on the liver and generally every part of the body. So, for these reasons, this Bill is meant to protect the health of our people. We cannot just sit and watch our people suffer simply because, maybe, we want to make money from taxes that the tobacco industry contributes. Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, after the Committee went through this Bill and after merging the two Bills, it discussed the issue. We consulted with the Ministry of Health and very many stakeholders, including the manufacturers of tobacco, farmers, civil society and smokers. They all agreed that we should control the use of tobacco in the country. That is the reason why we have this Bill here. We hope that this House will support it, so that it becomes a law. I should also mention here that we are not passing this Bill, so that we punish any interested party, particularly the manufacturers. We support cigarette manufacturers, but we are also here to protect the health of our people. We know that tobacco has got a lot of harmful chemicals. We must let our people know about it. Our youth are easily tempted to smoke. We should give them early education. We have proposed in the Bill that such education can be offered in schools, so that our children know of the 3764 PARLIAMENTARY DEBATES November 16, 2006 harmful effects of cigarettes as they grow up. In that way, they will stop smoking and safeguard their health. We need to develop this country, but we cannot develop it using unhealthy people. So, we want our children to grow up as healthy people, so as to develop this nation. It is, indeed, true that diseases caused by cigarette smoking are often chronic. Chronic illnesses normally take very long to cure. Illnesses caused by cigarette smoking, or tobacco consumption, require a lot of money to treat. Therefore, for the economy of this country to grow, we must avoid spending a lot of money on the treatment of illnesses caused by cigarette smoking. There should be a rule to prohibit children under 18 years of age from smoking cigarettes. We have also said that retailers should be prevented from selling cigarettes to people under 18 years. Young persons should identify themselves by producing national identity cards when buying cigarettes. We also say that parents should also not send their children to buy cigarettes on their behalf from shops. Shopkeepers should not allow young people under 18 to buy cigarettes for their parents. Of course, if you send your child to buy cigarettes for you, your child will also follow your example and smoke. Therefore, children must be educated and must know of the dangers of cigarette smoking from examples by elders and parents. We have also proposed in the Bill that we must also protect non-smokers. If you sit with someone who is smoking, you will also inhale smoke. In this circumstance, you will also be affected just like the person smoking. So, how do we avoid that? We should have designated places for smokers and non-smokers. So, we must ban smoking in public places such as social halls, bars, hotels and airports. When you travel overseas, you will see sign boards reading \"No smoking area\", or \"smoking area\". Provisions on similar designating should be in our laws, so that we have designated places for smokers and non-smokers. In that way, we will protect non-smokers from being affected by cigarettes smoke. We must have in our laws designated places where smoking is prohibited. I know that in Parliament Buildings and precincts there are no designated areas for smokers. We often see some hon. Members smoking anywhere within Parliament premises. We should have designated non- smoking areas within Parliament's precincts. We do not see this anywhere now. We must show a good example to others since we pass laws on non-smoking designated areas. After this Bill is passed, we would ask you, Mr. Speaker, to designate areas for smokers in the precincts of Parliament. I am not a smoker and do not want to go to smokers' areas. We should put smokers in a separate area, where they can smoke and take their beer. We should have two bars, a bar for smokers and another one for non-smokers of this House. Public transport should also be one of the prohibited places for smoking. I think, we cannot also smoke in banks. I am sure if this was done, there would be a reduction on the effects of cigarette smoking. We have also looked at the positive or negative effects of manufacture and sale of cigarettes. On advertisements, we know that any business needs advertisement. But we do realise that cigarette smoking is dangerous to our health. So, we will also restrict advertisement of cigarettes. This is because it induces children to smoke. Some adverts show young beautiful ladies smoking on television. This kind of advertisement will be restricted. Even promotion of cigarettes will be restricted. We know that the BAT has done commendable work in this country. It supports many of our institutions. It also supports our agricultural shows and many other sporting activities. Much as the BAT promotes our sporting activities, it should not advertise cigarette smoking. It should not be allowed to openly advertise cigarette smoking. It should not display advertisements saying that \"cigarette smoking is good for your health\" On every cigarette packet there should be a bold advert, indicating that cigarette smoking kills. Cigarette smoking causes death through cancer or high blood pressure. These warnings should appear on cigarette packets. Retailers and wholesalers of cigarettes should display bold warnings against the dangers of smoking. If this is November 16, 2006 PARLIAMENTARY DEBATES 3765 done, we will win this war against smoking. I want to say that we should support this Bill. This proposed law may not please everybody. So, it is a question of give-and-take. On the one hand, we will win a war but on the other hand, we will lose something. This country cannot just continue having no laws on cigarette smoking. It is good that we are now debating this Bill. I wish to urge hon. Members to support this Bill so that Kenya can have laws on tobacco control in accordance with the World Health Organisation treaties. With those few remarks, I beg to support."
}