Stakeholders decry lack of participation in Tobacco Amendment Bill
The stakeholders in the tobacco industry have raised concerns over the lack of participation in the Tobacco Amendment Bill.
This comes as the Ministry of Health (MOH) calls for stricter enforcement of tobacco control laws, alarming that the unchecked spread of the substance is exposing youths and families to serious health risks.
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Speaking in an interview on a local radio station on Wednesday, September 24, 2025, the Secretary General of the Bar, Hotel & Liquor Traders Association (BAHLITA), Boniface Gachoka, lamented that both the industry players and consumers have been denied a chance to articulate their views.
“Retailers, who are very close to the consumers, are the last people on the line. We can give very good ideas that can help in terms of mapping, controlling, and even issues like youth access. But the bill has been closed for us to give our contribution,” he explained.
“Our consumers are also complaining that they have not been given a chance to be heard.”
Gachoka said the tobacco sector is facing many problems with the introduction of new products that are legal but not yet correctly accounted for in the existing laws.
“There is some update in terms of recommendations that is needed. The emergence of new products in the market that are legal but yet to be properly accounted for in the current legal framework is a challenge,” he said.
Elsewhere, small-scale traders expressed concern that the tobacco bill could ruin their businesses.
Gachoka’s sentiments add to the concerns raised by the lobby group, the Campaign for Safer Alternatives (CASA), which condemned the bill, terming it misguided and a potential death sentence for the smokers.
CASA chairman Joseph Magero said the bill’s provisions ignore science, public health evidence, and consumer voices.
He warned that, in its current form, the bill would force smokers to continue using deadly combustible cigarettes while penalising safer nicotine alternatives such as vapes and oral pouches.
“Instead of protecting public health, this regressive bill condemns 2.6 million Kenyan smokers to an early grave,” Magero said.
Also watch: Kwale county retailers demand withdrawal of Senate bill on Tobacco control.
But MoH maintains that the lax enforcement has allowed cigarettes, shisha, and e-cigarettes to proliferate not just in towns but increasingly in rural communities.
“The menace of drugs continues to threaten families and especially the youth in our households. Illicit brews remain very persistent, and this is a danger even to our health,” Public Health and Professional Standards Principal Secretary Mary Muthoni said.
“It wilfully ignores overwhelming scientific evidence that modern nicotine alternatives are significantly less harmful than smoking and offer smokers their best chance to quit. Instead of offering a lifeline, it snatches it away.”
