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{
    "id": 234608,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/234608/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 203,
    "type": "speech",
    "speaker_name": "Capt. Nakitare",
    "speaker_title": "",
    "speaker": {
        "id": 348,
        "legal_name": "Davis Wafula Nakitare",
        "slug": "davis-nakitare"
    },
    "content": "Thank you, Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, for giving me this opportunity to support the Tobacco Bill. Tobacco control is a universal issue. Having listened to Mr. Weya, we understand that the Ministry has come up with standards for regulating smoking. In developing countries, this is quite clear. Where the Ministry has gone astray, this is not something that is strange to us. We would like to give a limit at least to the age of a child. A shopkeeper should not sell a cigarette to a child under the age of 18 must. These are the stringent rules that are now applying in developed countries. Smoking is a bad influence. If we look at how tobacco was introduced by Christopher Columbus, basically, we do not even know the reason why he did this. When you go to Central Domingo, where he first landed in the Dominica, there are Christians there. Where Christianity came in with the early missionaries, smoking of cigarettes was an evil thing. There were rules to be followed. When we diluted the lifestyle and softened rules from religion, that is when we invited social abuse. Why are school-going children allowed to smoke? Is this an influence from their parents? If so, why should the Ministry not come up with rules and say: \"Should a parent allow an underage to smoke, the child, parent and the seller of the cigarette should be punished. The law will then apply and there will be an improvement in the regulation of tobacco use. Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, why are we making a fuss of this issue? Tobacco is not a special crop in this country. May I inform this House that where tobacco grows, even cotton can grow. Why can we not say that cotton is a substitute of tobacco? Farmers say they are looking for a lifestyle; they want to earn a living. Cotton is used in all forms of life. There is no limit to the use of cotton. However, there is a limit to the use of tobacco. This is because there are people who have abstained from smoking, but is there anybody who has abstained from using cotton as 3728 PARLIAMENTARY DEBATES November 15, 2006 clothing or a blanket cover? These are the instances that we have to consistently look at. We do not have to look at the pros and cons of this issue from the developed countries. The multinationals want to come here to magnify their businesses. In the recent past, there was the introduction of GMOs in the tobacco sector. Developed countries have introduced GMO tobacco. What is the effect of that to human life? I am not looking at the diaspora, but if I take this House through the anatomy of a human being; if you dissect a smoker's body from the mouth to the lungs and you see the penetration of nicotine, you will be shocked. One does not even need to study the anatomy of a smoker. When a person who is addicted to smoking laughs, you will turn aside. The mouth stinks pungently. The oesophagus is turned into the colour of soot. Soot comes from carbon dioxide. I do not think a smoker would enjoy smoking where there is no oxygen. That is an indication that smokers burn a lot of money. In fact, this is a lifestyle where some people just want to smoke a bit of the cigar and then throw it away. I wonder whether these people can take a Kshs1,000 note, set it on fire and throw it away. This is a social behaviour. I do not think a smoker has anything other than addiction to the cigar."
}